


Head Pats

by ChrisRainicorn



Category: RWBY
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, F/M, Fluff, Jaune is a dog faunus, Mutual Pining, Nora is the biggest arkos shipper, Nothing Bad Ever Happened Ever, Romance, Slow Burn, aka a good boi, arkos, it got a bit out of hand lmao, this was supposed to be a 5k one shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-29 11:07:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 35,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17202365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChrisRainicorn/pseuds/ChrisRainicorn
Summary: In which Jaune is a dog faunus, and he likes head pats.





	1. Pats

**Author's Note:**

> You know when a character says something like “What could go wrong?” and then something immediately goes wrong? I’m feeling this in my soul because before I started writing this I said “It’s just a fic about Jaune getting some head pats! How long can it be?”
> 
> I have recorded proof that I wanted this to be 5k. Part of me wants to apologize for the length and the other doesn’t regret anything!
> 
> Jaune is a golden retriever faunus in this. And I have to thank (one more time) mrk50 on twitter/tumblr for inspiration. Their cute drawings and headcanons for this AU are what motivated me to write this fic!
> 
> Just a few more things before we start. English is not my first language and this was not beta read, so sorry if there are any silly mistakes and weird sentences. 
> 
> Also, I wrote this with the intent for it to be a one-shot, but I will split it into 3 parts in case you need a good place to stop to take a break or something. They all will be posted at the same time too, I don’t have a reason to make you guys wait for a chapter since everything is already finished and I always meant to post it as one.
> 
> Enough babbling! I hope you like it!

_Restless._  If existed one word that could describe how Jaune was feeling during the days that followed the arrival of his acceptance letter to Beacon, that one fit just fine.

The days before the letter now seemed a distant, way simpler time. Of course, he had been apprehensive, but he had made sure that his parents would not be able to find out in any way about how fake his transcripts were. And after they were sent, he tried not to think too much about it.

After all, all he could receive was just a yes or a no, right? From that moment on, it was beyond his control, all he had left to do was wait.

So when the confirmation that he actually got in, that he was accepted into Beacon  _for real_ , as in  _Beacon_ , the most prestigious huntsman academy in  _all of Remnant,_ those thoughts couldn't be pushed back any longer.

Yep! Jaune Arc - the only son of one of the most known Faunus families of all of Vale, with ancestors that were considered heroes for fighting bravely on the Great Faunus Revolution, with the warrior career and the expectation for greatness carrying down from each generation - was finally following his father's footsteps of becoming a huntsman to uphold the honor of the family name!

No pressure at all!

That was what he had tried to tell himself every morning. However, it was plainly obvious how agitated he was actually feeling.

After all, it took only one minute of him alone with his thoughts for his own body to find a way to express his turmoil. And his dog tail was just a really big, golden, fluffy and not subtle at all way of expression.

His sisters liked to point it out when it happened.  _"Jaune stop beating up the couch with your tail, show some mercy, it has done nothing wrong!"_ He just laughed dryly and stuck his tongue out to their sarcastic comments. They were lucky they didn't have to deal with that, he was the only one that inherited their mother's tail while all of his seven sisters had an extra pair of canine ears, like their dad.

He knew they were only trying to light up the mood though, from the way they ruffled his hair affectionately and told him everything was going to be all right.

And he believed them. He did his absolute best to believe them. But that didn't stop countless scenarios from being conjured by his mind.

There were the good ones, those that made his tail wag excitedly, there were the less pleasant ones, that caused it to twitch apprehensively, and everything in between; each day a new possibility barged through his thoughts.

So when Jaune took the first step into Beacon, he told himself that the world could throw anything at him! Even the worst motion sickness he had ever had! He was expecting it! He was expecting a little bit of everything!

He had expected from Ozpin himself to appear right in front of him and throw him back into an airship at the same second because of his fake transcripts, from a nice and peaceful school year with a great team and good friends.

Thank the gods the first one didn't happen, if he had had to go back to his home with his tail tucked between his legs, his parents probably wouldn't let him make a decision of his own for the rest of his entire life.

Unfortunately, as much as he had wished for it to happen, the second scenario wasn't accurate either.

Of course it wasn't going to be. He was a faunus, and he was no longer at the constant friendly atmosphere of his little hometown - one of the few places besides Menagerie where his species was the majority.

In addition to that, there was this other little, small detail. He was attending a Huntsman Academy and, unlike probably every other living soul at this school, with not even the basics notions of how to be an actual Huntsman.

So part of the students wouldn't even look at him in the face - or look at him like they were superior - and his combat skills were mediocre.

And the cherry on the cake was that, apparently, those were reasons to attract a team of bullies.

He had to admit, team CRDL made some of his days a nightmare, from  _questionable_  comments to  _accidental_  steps on his tail. This was no surprise though, he was expecting that to happen. And he told himself that he could handle it alone.

That turned out to not be a really good idea in the end. Every day team CRDL's nagging turned worse and worse, and when his friends decided to bring up the subject during lunch one day, he just brushed them off.

He had walked away from the table with his food barely touched that day, his tail hanging low as he felt Ruby's and Pyrrha's worried stares on his back.

If there was one thing right about his most optimistic expectation for his days at Beacon, it was the fact that he actually got good friends and a great team. It was because of them he hadn't completely given up or sent home to never even think about being a Huntsman again.

He hated making them worry. Especially Ruby and Pyrrha.

Ruby was the first person he talked to at Beacon and his first friend, and he was quick to become friends with the rest of her team too when it was formed.

Actually, scratch that, it wasn't that quick. Ruby's sister, Yang, was eager to know her lil' sis first friend, so there was no problem there.

Blake was at the beginning just a huge question mark for him though. She was nice, but always seemed a little  _jumpy_  when he was around.

At first, he thought it was because he was a faunus, that she was one of  _those people._  But the quiet girl surprisingly always spoke up when they were the subject of the conversation or the theme of discussion during class, the way she talked got him to quickly discard the possibility.

It would take a while for him finally to find out the reason for how she acted around him and how wrong his first assumption was, and if you stopped to think about it, it was quite funny.

Well, she  _did_  really like tuna a lot.

Then there was Weiss, she was a little bit more difficult. He had tried to approach her during the first day when he saw her talking to Ruby, but the moment she saw he had a tail and he noticed she was a Schnee, they both knew that they wouldn't click very well.

After all, it was hard to find a faunus that wasn't aware of the Schnee Dust Company  _employment methods_  - and that was one of the reasons his family was proud for never using any Dust powered weapons.

After discovering Blake's secret though, Weiss' behavior started to change. Now Jaune could say that he considered her one of his friends. After all, they were both too quick to judge each other - him because of her family actions and her because of how she had been trained to think about his species.

Last but definitely not least, there was his team. And he could easily say they were the best friends he could have asked for.

They didn't even care that he was a faunus. And it wasn't even one month in and he already considered Ren as a brother he never had. Nora reminded him so much of his sisters that it was as if she really was one of them.

And his partner, Pyrrha; he could spend hours talking about her. Jaune still didn't understand how someone like him had ended up with such an amazing partner.

She was hands down the most talented student on their class, but also one of the kindest people he had ever met. She quickly became his best friend, and he gave her all the credit for the fact that he still hadn't been kicked out of the academy until this day.

It was because of her that he had the courage to stand up against team CRDL. Well, after he had to endure some of the worst days of his life.

It was all his fault though. Pyrrha had offered to help him one night after seeing that he was struggling at his classes and he, like a complete idiot, turned her down because he was too stuck up on his own head with the idea that he didn't need any help.

He ended up spilling everything about his fake transcripts, and when she left him alone at their dorms' rooftop after he denied her offer once again, he deeply regretted how loud he had shouted at her.

First, because Pyrrha was just trying to help and absolutely didn't deserve his childish outburst, and second because she wasn't the only one listening.

After days of Cardin keeping him on a leash so he would reveal his secret to the Headmaster, - and really, he really liked to joke about leashes. Days which he couldn't even interact with his team because every time he tried to be with his friends, Cardin would suddenly appear with an absurd task for him to complete  _or else,_  and of Pyrrha not even looking at him in the face, there was one point where he finally had the guts to say that he had enough.

That point was when Cardin decided that he was going to mess with his team - more specifically, with his partner.

So Jaune had said no. Not caring anymore if Cardin decided to tell everything to Ozpin and he would have to leave. He was supposed to be his team's leader, and he was doing a terrible job at that anyway.

Long story short, CRDL beat him up, all the negative emotion - and some tree sap - lured in the biggest Ursa Jaune had ever seen right to them. Tired of feeling useless, he actually managed to fight the beast and protect Cardin when it tried to attack him.

He told Cardin to never mess with his friends again. And he liked to think that he would listen.

That night Pyrrha found him alone at the rooftop, and his first words to her were a long overdue apology.

And she accepted in the same second - of course she was going to accept. She could tell how stressful those past days were for both of them, especially for Jaune; she had been upset with him because of his actions and for distanced himself from his team. But at the same time, Pyrrha hated that they weren't talking to each other, and she hated seeing him coming back to their room always late at night, noticing how his tail now was always uncharacteristic low and unmovable, without being able to do anything to help.

"Your team really misses their leader, you know..." And she really missed her partner.

Pyrrha turned around to leave, not forgetting to comment that Ren was making some pancakes - it had been a while since the last time the whole team was together for something as simple as just enjoying their teammate's cooking.

Before she could go, even if Jaune believed that he didn't deserve her forgiveness and that he didn't deserve a second chance, he decided to ask anyway.

"...Would you still be willing to help me... to help me become a better fighter?"

Pyrrha had her back to him, as she was almost to the exit the moment he shot his question. When she turned around and started to walk back to his direction, for a split of a second, the thought that she was going to hug him crossed quickly through his mind; his tail actually wagged for the first time after all those torturous days that caused it to be static.

His expectation was proved completely wrong when, with a quick motion, Pyrrha pushed him back and he fell graciously on his butt.

Jaune only had time to shout a quick "Hey!" as he looked up to see his partner smiling at him.

"Your stance is all wrong. You need to be wider and lower to the ground." She offered him a hand. "And you need to remember to use your tail to assist you in your balance."

He accepted her help, and Pyrrha pulled him up easily. He gave her a sheepishly smile, which she returned as they continued to hold on each other's hands.

"Let's try that again."

During that night Pyrrha had to stop her instructions several times to tell him that his stance would be way more solid if he could just stop wagging his tail so much.

He tried, really. But Jaune was feeling so content that everything was ok between them again and that she had accepted to help him. And the times when she encouraged him during the lesson and told him that he was getting the hang of it - proven by how instead of falling on his butt he just stumbled back a little bit when she pushed him - never failed to make his tail to start moving again like it had a life of its own.

Pyrrha just let out a few giggles at his enthusiasm; it was nice to see him acting like himself again.

"Sorry, I guess I'm just…" Jaune shrugged lightly before letting a smile overcome his face. "… Happy!" He never was really good at controlling how his tail gave it away how he was feeling so easily. "I'm glad it's all over…"

Her expression softened before she matched his smile. "Me too…"

A different kind of silence fell around then, somewhat comfortable, that didn't feel heavy or like they would have to make a lot of effort to break. A silence that enabled her to take in the immense relief she was feeling - as if she had been holding a breath for days and she was finally allowed to let go. And that just by watching the curl of her partner's lips, making his eyes crinkle at the corners with genuine happiness and gratitude; the quietness between them now was only tinted with the sound of his tail swaying against the air and the strangely loud pound of her heartbeat inside her ears.

It took a few seconds, but Pyrrha managed to speak up the moment she realized she was staring. "I think we can stop for the night then." She turned to the door, trying to cover the sudden feeling of intense heat on her cheeks. "Ren and Nora must be worried."

"O-oh! Right!" He followed her out of the rooftop, his tail waving from side to side with each step. "Do you think there are still some pancakes left?"

Jaune felt like his year had truly begun from that night forward. Thanks to Pyrrha, he finally was able to make progress on his combat classes, and the threat of failing seemed more distant with every study section they had together. And he made sure to let her know and thank her every single time. After all, she was the reason he was still hanging on and that he was able to move forward.

If there was something that Jaune could say it was more than he had expected, it was her.

* * *

Jaune thought that his problems were fixed after that day, so you could say that he was very much surprised to find out that that wasn't exactly true.

Because if there was a thing that he was absolutely not expecting at all, it was to be feeling this way.  _Whatever this was._

Really, it was hard to describe. It was a weird sensation and somewhat familiar, since he found himself having it occasionally since his first days at Beacon, especially when he spent too much time alone. But during those times where he barely interacted with any of his friends and his own team, those feelings had only intensified.

At first, he thought he was just missing his family and his home, and at the beginning that was probably the exact reason - it was the first time he was this far away from them after all.

Then it continued to grow in intensity into  _something else_ , at the point he could tell that it was more than just because he was missing someone.

It was an unusual feeling of emptiness, a kind of cold discomfort that made him shiver and still was more prone to appear when he was by himself, a strange sensation that he wanted something, but as much as he tried to ask himself what that something was, he could never find the answer.

Sometimes it made him feel kinda down, others, somewhat of annoyed, especially when he was expecting that getting back to socializing with his friends would put an end to it.

It certainly helped. When he was with his team, he would forget completely about the feeling. Still, the same moment he would go to bed at night, if he took even the slightest longer amount of time to fall asleep than usual,  _it_  would surface all over again.

Why was he feeling this way? Everything was going fine. The only thing he had to endure from Cardin now was some annoyed glances, his relationship with his team was back to normal, now every other day he and Pyrrha would head to the roof for his training sessions, and he could already feel the progress he was making.

Even though most of the time he ended up on the floor because his feet were in the wrong place, or his knee wasn't bent enough, or he forgot that keeping his tail a certain way could improve his balance, without Pyrrha's help he wouldn't even know about those mistakes.

And he wasn't even a little bit surprised at how good and how patient she was when teaching. Every time he fell, she was right there to offer him a hand and an encouragement, and he never hesitated in taking them.

Jaune clutched his pillow - well, one of his extra pillows, he started sleeping with three when he found out that having them helped somehow -, burying his face on the fabric to muffle a sound that was something between a groan and a whimper, preventing it from spreading around the silent room and bothering his sleeping teammates. He was happy! W _hat more could he want?_

Like always, he had no answer. So after letting out a huff, he decided to try to think about anything else until he managed to fall asleep.

What could he think about that would help him turn off though? Something that made him sleepy… Oobleck's class always managed to make him drowsy, maybe thinking about the subjects would do? Except… that was a bit too fast for his tired brain.

He was not even going to consider thinking about Port's life stories.

Then what about combat class? He hadn't been called to fight on the arena against a classmate since he fought Cardin weeks ago, he wondered how much better he would do now.

His mind wandered, making connections between his thoughts on its own, reaching his training sessions. He was actually excited to test some new stuff he learned from Pyrrha in a real match.

His straying thoughts went further and reached that first training session he had the night he apologized to Pyrrha. Remembering the time she had pushed him on the floor when he asked her if she could still help him, he found himself letting out an inaudible, tired chuckle at the memory.

He also recalled how he had thought she was actually going to hug him.

_"A hug would have been… nice..."_

Jaune found himself agreeing with what his subconscious had just whispered to him as he snuggled into the softness of his pillow. And without even realizing, he finally was able to slip away into his dreams, feeling oddly satisfied, as if he had just received an answer he was looking for.

He didn't even notice at some point while he was still lost on his thoughts, his tail had started to wag and his sheets had ended up on the floor.

* * *

It didn't take long for him to notice the pattern and to find out what exactly was happening to him.

From that night forward, every time his mind would wander until he was able to find sleep. Random thoughts that would soon meld with his dreams. But if there was something in common between those thoughts, was the intriguing fact that they always involved some kind of physical affection.

The idea of a caress would soothe him to sleep; a comforting hug, a nice scratch behind the ears or a hand going through his hair, and warm tingles would promptly replace the cold shivers.

He paid no mind to those occurrences for the first few times though. After all, he barely remembered them, since they emerged with his last wisps of consciousness.

The moment the daydreams began though, it was getting pretty obvious what his subconscious was trying to ask for and what was bothering him so much for the past weeks.

Yep, Jaune Arc had expected many things for his years at Beacon; but to be craving affection of all of the things, was certainly not one of them.

* * *

He blamed his wonderfully loving family. He blamed his ever-caring mother, his famous for his bear hugs dad, his supporting older sisters, and his clingy younger sisters.

He blamed the difference between his comforting home and the colder atmosphere of Beacon. Don't get him wrong, he loved being able to attend the school and the presence of his friends, but aside from them, everyone else seemed kinda distant.

Not everyone was dying to be friends with a faunus.

Ah yes, there was no denying that the fact that he was a faunus also contributed to his situation.

But could you blame him? If Blake liked to relax in sunny spots for a while and to eat that much tuna, and if Sun liked his bananas and climbed trees as his pass time, he could have the tendency of wanting to enjoy some pets, right?

Totally normal. And sincerely? He should have expected it.

The problem was that Jaune had no idea of how to fix this little problem of his.

This wasn't something he could just throw at his friends, just go to them and  _ask!_  It was embarrassing! And even if he had the guts to tell this to one of them and ask for help, none of the available options seemed very promising.

It was completely out of question asking for someone of team RWBY. He couldn't even imagine a situation where he would tell Weiss or Blake, Yang would probably tease him for the rest of his life, and Ruby would probably not take it very seriously because she would find the situation too adorable or something like that.

As for his own team, less unlikely, but still complicated. Ren was a reserved guy, an apologetic pat on the shoulder would probably be the only thing he would get for him. Once Nora gave him a hug and he actually needed to go to the infirmary to get some ice, so he quickly scraped her from the possibilities. And Pyrrha… Well…

As much as he hated to admit, Pyrrha sometimes made it  _very hard_  for him not to ask for her help.

Especially after all the extra time they spent together with his training sessions. And now that he knew what he wanted, he couldn't help himself from being hyper-aware of every touch.

And Pyrrha could be  _touchy_.

She always lay a hand on his shoulder when comforting or encouraging him, she always took his arm when she wanted him to follow her somewhere, she always pointed the mistakes on his stances with a gentle touch, always guiding the correction of those mistakes with a light push, she always placed one hand on his cheek and the other on his chest when she would help him engage his Aura and he would have to fight hard the impulse of just leaning into her touch.

And why Jaune had the feeling that if he decided to ask for her help, she wouldn't say no?

And was it a coincidence that most of the times during the thinking before going to sleep, he didn't imagine anyone specific giving him the contact he craved for, but when he did, Pyrrha was the one with him?

Was it bad that one of his recurring daydreams was that she gave him the hug he was expecting that day instead of pushing him on the floor?

And that he was sure it would have felt  _really_  nice?

And was it weird that for some reason he was thinking about her more than usual? And that the way she smiled, and talked, and laughed, and the way she was just… simply there for him, made his tail to wag, and his heartbeat to speed up, and his face to grow hot, and his stomach to flutter and-

"Jaune!" He jumped in place, his thoughts fled from him with the sound of his name being called and quickly turned to the direction of the voice to see Pyrrha jogging to meet him on the corridor. "Sorry it took so long. There was no ice left, but luckily Weiss was in the kitchen too and she gave me a hand." She chuckled lightly and offered to him one of the two water bottles she had with her.

"Ah! Don't worry about it!" He smiled at her and took his bottle, quickly deciding to focus on the chunks of ice floating around the liquid instead of how his fingers had just brushed hers for a moment. "Thanks."

Pyrrha looked down for a second when she caught the swift movement behind her partner with the corner of her eyes. "Are you that excited for training today?"

Jaune always looked eager for learning more about combat, so his tail wagging before their sessions was not an unusual sight - it would be if it wasn't, actually - but the velocity of the movement today was certainly new.

"Oh! Ahn…" Crap, his tail! Since when it started wagging? Jaune tried to calm it down when he saw that Pyrrha's eyes were on it, and he was not surprised that the best he could do was to only slow it down a bit, instead of completely stop the movement. "Y-yeah! You could say that."

She giggled, a sound that made even harder for him to try to control the sway of his tail, and he could feel his face heating up. But it was not of embarrassment. No, it was something else.

The thoughts he was having before she arrived suddenly came back to him with outstanding clarity.

"Let's not waste any more time then." She nudged him with her shoulder, prompting him to accompany her to the stairs that led to the roof.

Jaune blinked before he was able to give her a smile. "Right!"

He walked beside her, deciding to take a sip of his ice water to see if it would help his face cool down. It didn't do much though, some water wasn't going to wash away his realization.

So, hm, a crush. On his partner of all of the people.

Oh well, liking someone was a thing he expected to happen someday. It was no big deal, right?

The fact that his tail was back to wagging faster than normal told him otherwise.

* * *

Apparently, Pyrrha took his supposed extra enthusiasm for training today as a reason to make him work extra hard.

"So, like this?" He was already out of breath, his water was long gone and this was already the fourth move they reviewed this night. Still, he made himself to keep going, trying to execute one more time a basic technique for disarming an opponent they had learned during class a few days prior.

"Almost." Pyrrha blocked his swing in the last second. "For the last movement, keep your arm a little higher or your adversary will have an open angle to block."

She walked to his side. "Like this." Placing a hand on his upper arm, she guided it to the correct position. He just nodded at her instructions, doing his best to focus, ignore her closeness and keep his treacherous tail from moving - it would totally hit her from where she was standing and mess up with his stance - all at the same time.

Pyrrha walked to the same place she was occupying before, assumed her own stance and gave him a patient smile. "Let's try it now."

She advanced and he executed the movement. The next thing he registered was the sound of her weapon clacking on the floor.

"Ha!" He didn't hold back his tail from wagging this time. "I did it!" Pyrrha's method of fixing his mistakes with contact could mess up with his focus a bit, but there was no doubting that it worked.

"Well done!" She could only laugh at his pure enthusiasm. "But don't forget to keep your guard up... Or…"

Before Jaune could even blink, she ducked into the floor, rolling out of the way of his sword, and quickly retrieved her own weapon, that was soon pointed to the back of his head. "You will create an opening for them to get back into the fight."

All of that happened in just a few seconds, he was startled for hearing her voice coming from behind him when she was just on his front not even a moment ago. His instincts told him to turn around, so he did, but he was too fast, too sloppy, his balance was gone and he ended up tripping on his own feet mid-spin.

He could only let out an "Oof!" as he fell clumsily on his side.

"Jaune!" He opened his eyes to see Pyrrha still standing at the same place, her weapon now lowered and her hand on her mouth. Her shoulders scrunched. "I'm sorry!"

He shook his bangs out of his eyes; Pyrrha's worried face was cute. A small chuckle escaped from him, she only tilted her head in confusion at her partner, and that only made her expression ten times more adorable. He started to laugh, her expression softened before she let out a few giggles of her own. He liked that sound, he liked her, and oh no what he had gotten himself into?

Jaune ran a hand through his face. He had realized that earlier, but it seemed that the crushing weight of his epiphany had only downed into him now. His laugh transformed into a groan and he rolled into his stomach.

Pyrrha's giggles died down in the same second as worry overcame her. "Jaune! Are you ok?" She hushed to his side, kneeling in front of him. "Are you hurt?"

"No." The concrete muffled his reply. "I'm just… I'm just a bit tired." It was not a lie; only these few seconds of laying on the ground made him realize how much his muscles were aching for a rest.

"I'm sorry. I should have noticed." His tail twitched at the genuine concern on her voice. "Please tell me next time when you think we should stop for the night, ok?" Sometimes she forgot that he was not used to this intensity of training as she was.

He raised his head, supporting his chin on the floor. "Ok, yeah. I'll do that." He chuckled as he looked up to her. "And you don't need to apologize."

The concern on her face melted into a soft smile. "Let's go then?"

"Oh right. That would be nice." Yet, he didn't make one single effort to get up. "Just give me a sec."

He finally decided to move after a few seconds. Jaune let out a huff as he attempted to push himself up, only to flop back into the floor when he felt a muscle on his arm complaining. "Go without me Pyrrha." He made a dramatic gesture with his other arm. "I think I'll just stay here just a bit longer."

Pyrrha rolled her eyes lightly but played along. "I can't just abandon my partner in a moment of struggle." She looked down to him, his position didn't seem very comfortable, but his tail still had started to sway steadily from side to side, he smiled with his eyes and everything about that was, admittedly, comically adorable. So she didn't even think about what she did next.

"Come on, Jaune." She placed a hand on his messy hair, ruffling it lightly. "I know you can do it!"

Jaune froze with his partner touch, had she just…?! No way! He could handle himself mostly fine the times when she touched his shoulder, arms, or even his cheek. But patting his head?! That was pushing his buttons!

For his disappointment though, just as soon as her hand came, it was going away - going away too quickly! He involuntarily let out a small whimper, and before he knew, he was using all the strength he had left to push his body up.

His head met her hand again on the halfway point of its trajectory back with a satisfying  _pap_.

Pyrrha stopped completely when she felt Jaune's head under her hand once again. The only thing she able took notice of was how fast his tail was wagging, because before she could even fully process what happened and say anything at all, he recoiled back just as fast as he had moved forward.

His tail immediately dropped as if someone had just attached a weight to it. "A-ah! I… S-sorry! I-" He stuttered. What had he done? You can't just throw yourself at people's hands like this! "I thought y-you were… were going t-to…" He fidgeted with his hands as he found a very interesting crack on the floor next to him. "Erh… You know what? N-never mind, let's go."

But any plans he had of just bolting out of the rooftop powered by sheer embarrassment to find a nice hole to jump into, were frustrated by the simple feel of Pyrrha's touch on his hair again.

He let out a squeak before he was able to look back to her.

Pyrrha's expression was still mostly confusion, as if he had just spoken in another language to her and she was trying her best to understand. Her fingers suddenly moved, burying themselves on his strands, and he couldn't help of letting go of a sigh.

"You… like this?" Surprise and understanding crept into her tone of voice.

Jaune lowered his head to hide his face, which was rapidly growing warmer and warmer with each second, and only nodded as a reply. He was sure that if he tried to speak, no words were going to be able to pass through his dry throat.

"I… I can't believe it…" Pyrrha hesitantly moved her fingers to scratch him lightly behind his ear, the strands slipped around the leather of her gloves smoothly, without any tangled spots on the way, his already fast moving tail started to wag so hard she could hear it.

Jaune finally found his voice again only to whisper. "D-don't tell anyone… please."

"I won't." With her reply, he had the courage to look up to look at his partner in the face again, her gentle smile and her sincere expression, without any trace of mockery or revulsion, together with the feeling of her caress, were more than enough for him to finally allow himself to relax fully.

This was actually happening! So he might as well enjoy it while it lasted. His shoulders dropped with his tension leaving him, he let go of a breath that was getting painful to hold and he finally leaned into her touch.

Jaune's reactions were enough to bring the color to her own cheeks - he actually liked getting head pats! It was just too adorable! It wasn't just that though, Pyrrha had already admitted to herself that she was attracted to her partner weeks ago. After how insufferable the days that they weren't talking to each other were, and after how happy she had been when it was finally over, it was hard to deny how he occupied her thoughts more than she would be willing to admit.

The moment she noticed he treated her like a normal person, not thinking as if she was above other people because of her accomplishments, he had captured her attention. And after becoming partners with him, her interest had only grown.

She could say that he was more than meets the eye. When she had unlocked his Aura during Initiation, she felt how pure his soul was, she felt the qualities of a great leader and of a great friend, and she felt the enormous potential she knew he had, even if he didn't think that of himself.

Pyrrha honestly believed she couldn't have asked for a better partner, and soon she started noticing more things about him.

She noticed how he smiled when he was with his friends, how his tail wagged cutely when he was happy or excited, how he fumbled with his hands and his tail twitched when he was nervous, how determination crossed his face when he was fronted by a challenge, how his eyes shined when he was able to perform a move right on their training, and she had noticed that night on the rooftop when he apologized to her how much he made her heart flutter.

So discovering this new side of him - this new and adorable side - seeing how he trusted her with it, and how he was reacting to her touch, all of that only made heart do some flips on her chest.

Her hand moved to the back of his head, Jaune let out a content hum. She had never seen him so relaxed before, especially after the incident at Forever Falls.

Pyrrha had a hunch that there was something bothering her partner for the past few days; he seemed to be having problem sleeping by the way he was always tossing and turning on his bed lately, and he sometimes suddenly went very quiet, staring out to space with his tail shuddering from time to time.

All of that made her worry. He was back to talking with all of his friends, and he was doing way better at class, so she had no idea of what could be upsetting him.

So seeing how happy he looked right now gave her the courage to ask. "I noticed you seemed a little… stressed lately…" Pyrrha's quiet voice prompted Jaune to look up to her again. "Did something happen?"

Jaune was a little taken aback by his partner question; she had noticed, of course she had. However, the moment he tried to gather words to explain to her why he was acting that way, he found out that he actually didn't know how he was supposed to do that.

He had been so against asking for help with this problem of his that he hadn't even stopped to think how he would tell someone about it.

"No, nothing happened." He offered her a small smile, trying to ease her worry. "I'm just…" What could he say? Just spill that he was craving affection? No way!

"I'm just… I think I'm just a bit homesick lately."

_Close enough._

"Oh! I'm sorry..." Pyrrha realized that was something she couldn't exactly help Jaune with.

"Don't worry. I'll be fine." He smiled at her again, but she could only notice how his tail had slowed down after his reply.

Her hand automatically moved back to behind his ear, he tilted his head slightly to give her a better angle and his tail immediately sped up again.

A tiny chuckle escaped from her lips. Taking his behavior into consideration, maybe there was something she could do. "So, hm... Does… Does this help?"

"Y-yeah. It does." He beamed at her.  _More than you could ever imagine._

As much as Jaune wanted to just stay at the rooftop for the rest of the night, just enjoying Pyrrha fingers combing through his hair, after days of just having to imagine how that would feel, he had to admit to himself that that was just not possible.

It was getting late, they were already supposed to be back to their room by this hour, they had class tomorrow morning and even if Pyrrha seemed willing to help, he didn't want to make her waste the rest of her night.

And she already helped him in so many other ways, he couldn't help but feel like he was being a drag and asking for too much.

"Thanks, Pyrrha." He almost gave up of suggesting that they leave when he looked at her, with her soft smile and her soothing touch, he almost believed that she wouldn't mind staying with him on this roof for a little longer. Almost… "I'm feeling much better now."

"I'm glad." Pyrrha moved her hand to the top of his hair, ruffling it one last time before retrieving her hand.

Jaune let out a laugh when his bangs fell into his eyes when Pyrrha messed with his hair, then the contact was gone, and even if he didn't want it to end, he was actually feeling happy.

What had he done to deserve a friend like her?

"Let's go then? Can you stand up this time?" Pyrrha got up and offered him a hand.

"I think I can manage it." He smiled at her and took her hand, and soon the rooftop was empty again.

That night, Jaune fell asleep almost at the same second his body touched the bed, drifting lightly into the first undisturbed night of sleep he had in ages. The only movement coming from his corner of the room was one or two faint wags of his tail in response to his happy dreams.

* * *

I had been two whole days since that last training session on the rooftop.

Neither of them had brought up what had happened that night. Still, it was undeniable how only some simple head pats improved Jaune's mood. He actually felt lighter, and he couldn't help but wonder if there was a possibility of that happening again.

" _You could maybe just ask…"_

_"No! Focus! This is not the time for this. Stop thinking about it, it was probably a one-time thing."_

Oh, who was he trying to fool? As much as he told himself to clear his mind, it was getting pretty clear how close to impossible that was.

After all, the realization of his crush on his partner together with the memory of her fingers going through his hair meant Pyrrha was on his mind nearly one hundred percent of the time.

And yeah, he had to admit that his partner was a little bit -  _very_  - out of his league. The idea of her seeing him as more than a partner and friend was quite... amusing and unbelievable overall.

So he did his best to suppress any thoughts about it as fast as he could.  _"It's just a crush. You're just infatuated with her because she's nice and beautiful and kind and has a cute laugh and helps you with stuff and gave you head pats_ once _and-"_

_"Stop it!"_

So,  _surprisingly_ , doing that turned out to be easier said than done. And it certainly didn't help either that during the day they were in the same room nearly one hundred percent of the time.

"Jaune? Do you want to take a break?" Pyrrha's voice snapped him out of his moment of distraction - a moment he was totally not supposed to be having because he was in the middle of training.

"Hm, yeah! Can we?" He had to admit that he was not making a lot of progress that night, so maybe a break was what he needed.

"Of course!" Pyrrha put her weapons away before sitting on the floor of the rooftop, legs dangling from the edge. He always found incredible how she never had displayed any fear of falling.

Jaune sat beside her, staring at the flickering lights of the Beacon tower and allowing the faint breeze to cool him off. He had the hope that filling his mind with combat techniques and battle strategies would distract him out of his distraction. But admittedly, he had no idea of where this hope had come from and that it was kind of ridiculous.

Had he forgotten with who he trained with? Pyrrha's method of teaching was still the same - kind words, sweet smiles and light touches - and those things never failed to make his heart skip a beat.

He let go of a breath, his face felt hot, he hoped that it wasn't too noticeable.

"Jaune, are you feeling ok?" Pyrrha couldn't help but to notice how her partner seemed the embodiment of frustration; a loud sigh, a furrowed brow and a tail that was thumping against the ground apprehensively from time to time.

"Yeah. I- I just feel a little out of my game today, that's all." He chuckled lightly, motioning his head to where he had left his sword and shield to indicate what he meant.

"Do you want to stop for the night?" He glanced at her direction as she made her question, but quickly looked away from her worried expression; deciding to stare instead at the lampposts that dotted the courtyard down below, feeling his face heating up again.

"Nah, just need this break and we can get back to it."

"If you say so." She had to smile at how he insisted in keep going despite a few mistakes. Still, she wasn't completely convinced he was totally fine, his tail was still twitching and he seemed lost in thought.

"Hey..." She scooted a bit closer to him, bumping her arm on his to capture his attention, and he wasn't able to avoid glancing at her direction this time.

"Don't worry too much about it. We have time and can go over that last move again. Or if you want, we can move on to something new and leave this to another day." She placed a hand on his shoulder, he froze. "Ok?"

"Ahn…" Jaune blinked, taking notice of how close she had gotten - her eyes had more different shades of green than he remembered. "R-right, ok."

He did his best to stay calm, but he was really screaming on the inside. Why she had to be so touchy? Why she had to be so nice? Why she-  _his tail was wagging again wasn't it?_

Pyrrha couldn't hold a laugh from escaping when she saw how Jaune's tail had sped up the moment she touched his shoulder. "Or is there something else on your mind?"

"N-no! It's… it's nothing." He turned his head to the side, hiding the blush he knew it was coming.

"Are you sure?" He only mumbled an unintelligible answer. He could hear the grin on her tone of voice and that didn't contribute at all on his now constant effort to stop his tail from moving.

"Well, ok then." She giggled at his muttered reply and took her hand away from his shoulder.

His tail dropped at the same second her contact was gone and Jaune had to bit his tongue to prevent a complaint from escaping. He hadn't wanted it to go away!

"Ah- I'm fine. It's just..." Jaune made vague gestures with his hands. His plan was just to reassure her that there was nothing wrong once again, but every part of him kept screaming at him for him to change his mind –  _Just ask!_   _Would be that bad if you just tried?_  "I-I mean… Fine. There is a thing… I- Could you maybe…" Ok, deep breath; the worst that could happen was a simple no to a simple question. He could do this!

"L-last training we had…" He chanced a glance at her direction again, just to see Pyrrha waiting patiently for him to stop fumbling with his words and finish what he wanted to say. Though the tiny curl of her lips told him that she already knew what this was all about. "Could you maybe… do that again?"

His shoulders scrunched and he decided to stare down at the lampposts once again, he was pretty sure his whole face was red. "I mean, if... if you don't mind, that's it. And o-only if you want to. And if it's not too much to ask. And it's ok if you say n-"

His unbridled rambling came to a sharp halt when he felt Pyrrha's hand on the back of his head.

Jaune gasped, her fingers moved in a light scratch, burying her fingertips on his strands, sending a shock wave from the top of his spine to the bottom of his stomach.

"Do this?" A smirk found its way to her face.

His tail picked up a frenetic pace. "Hm, y-yes."

Pyrrha could only giggle softly at her partner's flustered expression and rapid wags.

"Sorry, I know this is kind of a weird thing to ask for." He let out a chuckle and closed his eyes to try to calm himself down. And that wasn't going to be very hard, Pyrrha's caress was even better than he remembered from that other night; gentle and soothing - exactly what he needed.

"It's not weird." She reassured him. It was a bit unexpected and definitely cute, but she didn't think it was weird. Pyrrha realized that if a faunus like Jaune would have any tendencies, this one really fit him well. "And I don't really mind."

His eyes snapped open and he turned his head to her direction. "Really?"

Pyrrha just nodded. It was the only thing she had managed to do when he tilted his head adorably to the side, letting out a content sigh after she moved her hand to scratch behind his ear. She thanked the fact that it was a somewhat of a chilly night because if it wasn't for that, she was sure her face would be nearly on fire.

She liked the feel of her fingers going through his hair, she liked watching his reactions to her touch, she liked seeing how something as simple as some head pats made him so happy.

"And… Well, if you want me to do this…" Pyrrha slid her fingers to the top of his head, ruffling his mess of blonde hair. "You can just ask."

"Really?!" He looked at her through his bangs, not able to hide the surprise on his voice, and his tail perked up.

Again, Pyrrha just nodded. It was the only thing she managed to do after seeing the pure joy overcome her partner's face after her offer.

She would do this, all right. That is, if she could contain the way her heart almost leaped out of her chest, her stomach fluttered and her face warmed up by being so close to him, and feeling him relaxing against her hand, and seeing his cute smiles, and adorable wags of his tail and oh no what she had gotten herself into?

* * *

Turned out Jaune didn't even need to ask.

Now every time they had a break during their training he would just sit by her side, like they always did before, but now Pyrrha would scoot closer or pat the ground for her partner to do the same, and she would gladly bury her fingers on his strands.

Her touch was always a bit hesitant at first; he always froze a bit the second her hand came in contact with his head. But soon her fingers moved with purpose and she was scratching behind his ears, or sliding to his nape or messing the top of his head, and he managed to mumble a flustered  _thank you_  before relaxing and letting his tail wag as it pleased. Then they would start talking about their day or just random things, or just enjoy each other's company in silence and everything would fall into place and feel just…  _right_.

Sometimes, he did ask her if she really didn't mind doing this, and Pyrrha would always do her best to reaffirm to him that, yes, she didn't, and her words came always with a beautiful smile and a reassuring scratch and he believed it was almost too good to be true.

Still, he felt like he owed her - a lot. She was so good to him - too good for him; it was uncountable how many times she had helped him only on those few months of knowing each other. Combat, classes, grades, not dying at Initiation, just simply believing in him and now this.

Jaune had his eyes closed when she tugged light at the strands of his nape, his tail was moving so fast it pierced the air with noise, Pyrrha always let out an adorable giggle at the sound and that would only make it wag even faster.

It was almost impossible to control it though. After all the brief touches Pyrrha always gave to him, having her fingers going through his hair fully felt absolutely amazing! Every stroke up his scalp sent the most delicious shivers down his back, he had never imagined that a simple scratch behind his ears could feel so satisfying, he had to bite his tongue to prevent gasps from escaping when she tickled the back of his neck and he would have to fight even harder the strange urge to just spread onto her lap, or just throw himself at her arms and shower her with kisses like a happy puppy.

But Jaune wasn't going to do that. So he just converted all this excitement that came with her touch to unrestrained wags of his tail.

And the effect her caress had on him lingered for days. His mood had improved drastically, he slept like a rock, there was no more annoying thoughts or unanswered questions nagging him before falling asleep, he felt lighter and well rested during the day, and that caused him to do way better at his classes.

And he had decided. He was going to find a way to repay her one day. Just saying  _thank you_  didn't feel like it was enough - it had never been. But what a guy like him could do for a girl who already had everything?

* * *

He didn't get an answer to his question. So, for now, he realized that the best he could do was to  _do his best_.

Pyrrha deserved the most amazing partner that could ever exist, Jaune was clearly far from that and he believed he was never going to get there, but at least he could be better, he could improve, and those past months were no better proof.

So he took his classes extra seriously. No more dozing off at Oobleck's class, he found out that trying to take notes at the same time as listening to the teacher was not a good idea, so he gave one hundred percent of his attention to the lecture and it was actually easy to keep up with after getting used to the rhythm.

Reading the chapter in the book about what Port was supposed to be teaching while he bragged about his  _glorious_   _deeds_  was actually quite productive.

And thanks to Pyrrha's guidance, he was in a state of constant improvement at combat classes. Even Goodwitch had quickly commented how better he was doing one day; and if the teacher had said so, he had no reason not to believe it.

Now Jaune gave his everything  _and more_  at their training sessions, taking every single one of Pyrrha's advice by heart. And deep down - very deep - he kinda hoped that if he worked himself more during their lessons they would tire out faster and break time would come earlier, and that was seriously the highlight of his day.

That plan kind of backfired though. First, because Pyrrha wouldn't let him overwork himself too much, and second because with all of his training, his endurance actually improved. He only noticed that when one day Pyrrha's Scroll beeped with messages from Nora, telling them that she and Ren were heading to the kitchen in a few minutes to prepare for their pancake night, and they hadn't had any breaks for the whole time.

"Oh? Already?" He was doing so well with his training in this particular day - he hadn't fallen on his butt not even once! - he seriously hadn't even noticed the hours passing by. "Guess... we should head down then." Jaune had tried to refrain from letting his disappointment to leak into his tone of voice, but he had failed, because Pyrrha noticed immediately.

She fidgeted with her Scroll, before finally typing a quick reply to Nora. He clearly didn't want to leave now, and admittedly, neither did she.

"She said they were going in a few minutes." She put away her phone. "And you know what that means coming from Nora..."

Jaune perked up, watching her walk to the edge of the rooftop instead of to the door to leave.

"They haven't even left the room yet, still have to go down to the kitchen and prepare everything…" Pyrrha continued as she sat on her usual place on the floor. The moment he noticed where she was going with this, his tail was quick to give away his newfound enthusiasm.

Turning her head back to him, she gave him a smile. "I think we still have a bit of time left."

"I- really?"

Pyrrha just patted the floor next to her, and he didn't even need to be told twice.

Jaune plopped by her side, with a smile just full of the most genuine happiness that made her cheeks flush instantly. There was barely any distance between them - if she had the guts, she could place her hand over his with just a small movement. She didn't though. Pyrrha just raised it to slip her fingertips into his smooth hair, as she always did.

She enjoyed these moments as much as he did, after all. Just like their training sessions, these breaks were something that it was just… theirs. It was a moment her mind finally was able to be clear from combat techniques, a moment where there were no teachers watching her every move, expecting nothing but perfection, a moment without those people who only saw her as the star student of their class or the champion of tournaments, or the girl on the cereal box.

It was a moment that she could just relax and be herself - just be an ordinary girl who happened to have a helpless crush on her partner, a partner who sometimes was too adorable for his own good.

Jaune let out a content sigh the moment her fingers buried into his hair, tilting his head to the side to give better access for her scratches, his closeness meant that sometimes the long fur on his tail would brush lightly against her back as it moved from side to side.

The reflected light of the moon made his hair to resemble threads of gold, his eyes were half-lidded, focused on the green lights of the Beacon tower ahead, giving them a beautiful ocean shade of blue, a satisfied smile was plastered on his face. He also had a light, cute flush on his cheeks, she always wondered if it was just because they had just finished training, or because the situation was still a little embarrassing to him, or maybe... if there was something else.

His angled head gave her sometimes a nice view of his smooth neck and sharp jaw, and she would be filled with the sudden urge to just get closer and make a trail of soft kisses through his skin, wondering if he would like that, and how fast his tail would wag if he did.

Pyrrha blinked, she was staring again, wasn't she? How much time had passed already? They probably should head down, Ren and Nora should be waiting for them at the kitchen by now.

So turning her face forward so she could try to hide her blush, that probably was quite noticeable taking into consideration the direction her thoughts had taken, she started. "I think it's time for us to go."

Jaune pressed his head against her hand one last time. "Yeah, I'm actually a bit hungry." A grumble came from his stomach. "Ok, fine. Really hungry."

She laughed, glancing back to him, even with his agreement neither of them made a motion to get up. "With the way you were going all or nothing today I guess you would be."

"It's because I have an amazing teacher, you see." His tail thumped playfully into the floor as he bumped her shoulder. "She deserves a dedicated student."

"And she couldn't ask for a better one." Pyrrha looked down to her swaying feet when she felt her light blush spreading around her face. "If you keep up like this, I will run out of things to teach you pretty soon."

"I doubt it." Jaune let out an amused laugh. "But, hm…" He suddenly went very quiet. "Do you… Do you really think… that there will be a day we won't need to come up here anymore?"

"I…" She looked up again, she hadn't even realized those implications on her words. "I mean, yes…"

His tail dropped immediately, he had never considered that there would be a time that classes could end for the day and he wouldn't have their training sessions to expect for, but before her reply could sink in fully, she continued. "We won't be living here anymore after we graduate after all."

"Ah!" The second he realized what she meant, his smile came back to his face and his tail picked up the pace again. "Pyrrha! For one second-" He laughed into his hands. "For one second I almost believed we would really stop one day."

Pyrrha laughed with him, a melodious sound that never failed to wake up the butterflies in his stomach. "We don't have to stop." She looked ahead, the fractured moonlight allowing barely the discernment between the buildings; the tower, the classrooms, the arena, the ballroom… just a few months ago she was at that exact place, eyeing curiously a faunus boy who was wondering where he would find a  _nice and quirky girl to talk to_ , but it already felt like a lifetime. "Even if one day I run out of things I can teach you… we can - and should - still practice what we already know and what we will be learning at class, right?"

"Right..." His reply came out softer than he had intended, but that was all that he had managed after he realized that her words meant that he could always count on her.

Jaune didn't even think about what he did next. And if someone asked him why he would have no clear answer. Maybe it was because he was feeling so happy, that he had to demonstrate that somehow.

He just moved his head forward by a fraction, since they were already so close, touched his forehead to her temple and his nose to her cheek, nuzzling her lightly. "Thanks, Pyrrha."

Her loud gasp and the way she shuddered under his touch were like a wake-up slap.

He abruptly jerked away at the same split of a second. "P-Pyrrha! D-dust, I'm so sorry!" He covered his face with his hands unable to look at her direction again, feeling the heat emanating from it. "I just… I- sorry, this is something-" Jaune uncovered his face when he noticed that his hands muffled all his words, so now they were gesticulating wildly as he rambled. "This… this is just something my mom does to us… she does that to me and my sisters, and I also do to her and my sisters sometimes, it's like… like a family thing I'm so sorry if it's weird I shouldn't hav-"

Jaune was still babbling his explanation when Pyrrha finally found out she still could move. Her mind had gone blank, the sound of her quickened heartbeat almost muffled the sound of his voice, but thankfully, the small part of rationality that had survived connected the dots for her.

"Jaune…" She called as calmly as she could, eyes staring fixedly at the horizon, and that was enough for him to stop his frenetic talking. "It's alright, I understand what happened."

"Y-you d-do?" He stuttered, glancing quickly at her direction before averting his reddening face to the side again.

Pyrrha nodded slowly. "That day… you told me you were homesick." She finally was able to look at her partner again. "Does… does getting pets reminds you of home?"

Jaune found himself nodding; it wasn't a lie after all.

"And that…" She avoided his eyes for a second; his touch still tingled warmly on her burning skin. "Is something you do to the people at your home… so you reacted to something familiar to you… with a familiar action."

"I… Y-yeah, that makes… makes sense." He agreed; that was an explanation he was willing to roll with.

Pyrrha nodded, it did make sense. There were a few seconds of heavy silence before she decided to speak up. "So, hm, let's go then?"

Jaune nodded again and she was already up. He jumped in place when he saw her hand stretched to him, offering the usual help for him to get up.

As always, he took it, pushing his body up with only one motion. Yet, he found out that he still able to look at her in the face, she had reacted so calmly… was she mad at him?

He muttered one more quick  _"Sorry"_  before he could even think more about it.

"Jaune…" Pyrrha squeezed his hand, and he finally looked at her. "It's all right, really."

She gave him a small smile to reassure him, and he returned, but the way his tail was unmovable between his legs told her that he was still a bit uneasy.

Her hand had let go of his almost without her noticing, finding the way to his hair out of habit. She scratched behind his ear, and as always, his tail was unable to keep quiet.

She giggled at his reaction and he had to let out a small laugh of his own. He relaxed under her touch, leaning into her palm as a real smile found its way to his face, and soon the unbearable awkwardness was gone.

"Don't worry too much about it. It was… it was nice." She admitted, glancing to the floor for a few seconds. And before he could say anything she continued. "C'mon, you did great today and we deserve some pancakes." She ruffled the back of his head lightly - she realized that this was only the second time she petted him while they were face to face, the very first being the other one, it would be so easy to just slip her hand to the back of his neck and pull him closer towards her.

But she didn't. She just removed her hand and headed to the exit.

Jaune followed her close behind. "I hope there's still some syrup this time."

She let out a chuckle, but her smile faltered for a second as soon as they reached the dark staircase.

 _"I also do to my sisters sometimes. It's a family thing."_  His words suddenly came crawling back up to her thoughts.

Should she be happy because he considered her close enough to extend to her a gesture of affection reserved only to his family? Or could that mean he only saw her as a sister?

She seriously hoped that the last option wasn't the case.


	2. Hugs

It was finally time to see if his extra dedication to his training would pay off.

The students were only waiting for Professor Goodwitch to arrive, everyone was in some state of agitation, yet all conversation was being exchanged in hushed whispering, as if they talked louder than that, a Grimm would be suddenly summoned to the arena.

Today they were going to be evaluated, and Jaune was actually feeling a bit confident, he knew that after all his training, he had more than enough to achieve a passing grade - or at least, he hoped he had.

His confidence was mixed with a nice amount of anxiety though. The Professor hadn't said a word about how this test would play out, so they could expect her to appear with a stack of papers and to tell everyone to write a 3 page essay about combat techniques, or for her to take them to the very same dreaded cliff from Initiation to be launched to the Emerald Forest again. And Jaune actually believed that the second option was a bit more likely than the first.

Finally, Professor Goodwitch arrived and the room went dead silent. After a brief greeting, they finally received the instructions they were waiting for.

"This is only a simple test, its purpose is to see if you grasped correctly the execution of what you learned in the past weeks, identify any mistakes and clarify doubts before we proceed to more complex subjects." Her gaze turned sharp, any relief the students could have felt by hearing  _"simple test"_  and  _"clarify doubts"_  vanished with the Professor's look. "Even though I believe there is no reason for those doubts to exist."

"It will be divided into two parts, two matches. They are basically the same, and not very different from what we do at the end of each class. You will be paired with someone for a spar, and during it, I want you to try to execute the maximum amount of the combat techniques you have learned through the semester."

A few murmurs resonated from the students - that sounded simple enough.

"The first match will be with your partners." The conversation in the room turned into an excited buzz, and he had to exchange a smile with Pyrrha. "Just choose any corner of the arena and soon I will approach to make my notes."

"The second you will be paired with a randomly selected student. You will receive their name on your Scrolls as soon as the first part ends."

After a few more instructions, the Professor gave the permission them to begin positioning themselves. "And remember, this is not about winning or losing or depleting your opponent Aura. The more you can demonstrate during both of your matches, the higher your grade will be."

The combat arena was a huge building, especially when with a simple command on her Scroll, the Professor pushed the retractable stands back to the wall, so the pairs had a lot of available space to work with without having the risk of bothering other classmates.

"Where do you want to go?" Pyrrha asked him as soon as the other pairs had started to scatter.

"Hm… There." Jaune pointed at a spot after a few seconds of looking around. "That corner is mostly empty."

They secured their place. Some partners had decided to wait until Goodwitch approached for them to start, but most of them used the time to warm up, Jaune and Pyrrha were one of them, so soon the arena was filled with diversified sounds of battle.

After taking a quick glance to the other pairs that had also started their spars, Jaune had to admit that evaluating all of that seemed like a lot of work.

It was incredible to watch. Every student was unique, every match was a distinct combination; an individual weapon, semblance, fighting style, amount of Aura. And the Professor went around analyzing and advising each one of her students based on their particular traits.

Ruby and Weiss certainly stood out with a blend of vibrant red petals and shining glyphs, both of them were incredibly fast, but you could still detect their determined looks and challenging smiles on their faces, their clashing color scheme made their chaotically elegant battle absolutely mesmerizing.

Blake and Yang were just as fantastic. The dodge of blades and bullets between a choreography of black ribbons and glowing fists made for a graciously deadly combination, but the way the partners exchanged glances, as if every move had an inside joke attached to it, made very clear how they were not fazed by that in any way.

The difference between Nora's explosive attitude and Ren's calm demeanor were made more than clear when they spared together, but what came out of all of that was complementary clash, the energy of a thunderbolt with the soothing of raindrops, a surprisingly balanced match, they had been training together for as long as they could remember, and it showed.

There was no overwhelming clash between Jaune and Pyrrha, but that didn't make their spar any less fascinating. Taking their similar fighting styles, it could only be described as a dance of swords and shields, with the music being made by both of them with the encounter of their blades, and the steps being their confident swings and dodges. A result of total partnership, where both parties understood the limitations and abilities of each other, easily falling into the more than familiar rhythm of their nights on the rooftop - a beautiful junction of red and gold, white and bronze.

The complete trust was clear on their gazes, slightly dashed with the pride of a mentor and the resolve of an apprentice, but it was obvious that they meant much more to each other than that, they were partners, they were friends - even if neither of them could identify the deeper feeling hidden below.

Jaune moved around with ease, any nervousness he could have been feeling faded as soon as they fell into the familiar sequence of attacks. Revising everything they had learned in class was always part of their training routine, so the moves were engraved on his mind.

He could tell the exact moment Pyrrha would advance by the way her lips tilted upwards slightly, and he would have milliseconds to block a hit delivered by her strong arms. She would dodge with fluid motions, her body twisting elegantly and her ponytail following the movement like ribbons of red satin. This was her element, she waltzed around the field with confident steps in high heels, radiating strength and grace, but by no means being overpowering, she always made sure he was part of the dance as much as she was.

He still fumbled with his feet occasionally, but just a swing of his strong tail was enough for him to recover his balance, making his slip almost imperceptible for the eyes of a spectator. He was by no means perfect, she still was leagues better than he was, but he compensated with enthusiasm and determination, and that made her eyes glimmer with satisfaction during their spars.

Jaune had noticed all of those details, and took him a long time to learn how to not be distracted by them. But how he could not be? Pyrrha was simply stunning! And it was particularly difficult to avoid any thoughts that weren't combat related when they ended up face to face, the metal of their weapons being the only thing between them. He had to control himself not to glance down at her pink lips, but most of the times that caused him to be lost in the forest of her eyes instead.

He had learned the hard way that he would only have the total of one second to appreciate their proximity, because if he lingered, Pyrrha would certainly sweep him off his feet - literally. So he jumped to the side, avoiding the advance that would have brought him down, letting out a joyful laugh when he was successful with his dodge, not forgetting to raise his sword to intercept her next attack.

"Excellent." The voice of the Professor resonated together with the last clash of their weapons. Jaune stumbled back, when had she got there?

Pyrrha placed a light hand on his arm to help his stead himself as they lowered their weapons; the Professor was quickly typing on her Scroll and didn't seem to notice his misstep.

Goodwitch hummed approvingly as she raised her head, a small, pleased smile on her face. "I suppose you two don't have any doubts?"

Pyrrha exchanged a glance with him. "No, Professor."

"We are good, thank you."

She only nodded with satisfaction, eyeing him curiously for a second before leaving to attend another pair.

As they watched her go, Pyrrha punched him playfully on the shoulder. "She looked really happy with you!"

"Ah! I saw that! I-" He muffled an excited sound, but wasn't able to keep his tail quiet any longer, it moved so fast that his body was basically vibrating with joy. "It was the first time she didn't correct anything about me!"

He was beaming, his huge grin was contagious and it looked like it irradiated light, she never had seen him so happy.

Then, his expression softened and reattributed the light punch she had given him with one of his own. "And I couldn't have done without you."

She matched his smile and his stomach fluttered with the sight. He wanted to hug her  _so badly_  right now. Still, he remembered the way she had shuddered under his touch the other day, how surprised she had looked. Even after her claim that she had liked, he didn't want to push any boundaries.

He didn't even have the time to dwell on the matter though, because their moment was soon broken by the sound of notifications coming from their Scrolls, causing both of them to jump slightly.

"I had completely forgotten that we have a second match." Jaune patted the pocket of his jeans for his device.

Pyrrha fished her Scroll from one of the small pouches attached to her belt. "Oh! I got Ren!"

"Really? You can end up with one of your teammates?" Finally finding what he was looking for, he continued. "Man, I could be paired with Nora then. That would be cool."

Before he could unlock his Scroll, a weight slammed into his side, nearly causing him to drop his device. "Sorry, fearless leader! I'm with Yang."

Jaune only stumbled a bit, after all those months of living together, all of them were already used to Nora's abrupt approaches. "That sounds like a really explosive combination."

"Oh, it will be an explosive fight!" Nora clutched her fist; the look on her face could very well be described as  _murderous_.

"Nora please, this is a test. Don't destroy things with explosions." Ren placed a soft hand on the top of his partner head, she calmed down instantly.

"But Reeeen…" She pouted at Ren's small smirk. "AH!" Nora suddenly perked up again. "I saw that you are borrowing my partner, Pyrrha. Please return him to me without any scratches."

Ren only rolled his eyes; Pyrrha had to let out a few giggles. "Of course, Nora."

"Who did you get, Jaune?" Nora stood on her tiptoes to try to take a glimpse at his Scroll.

"Oh! One second." He unlocked the screen and clicked on the new notification, he really hoped that it was Ruby or at least someone from her team.

His hopes were crushed as quickly as Nora had slammed into him earlier. He just let out an annoyed, loud grunt to the name on his hands. "Why can't I have nice things?"

"Don't tell me it's Cardin?" Nora scrunched her nose.

He shook his head. "Russell."

"Ugh. You can total break his legs though."

"I don't think that that would be really good for my grade."

Professor Goodwitch announcing that the second part of the evaluation would begin soon interrupted their conversation.

Jaune let out a huff, his shoulders dropped. "Let's get this over with."

"I'm sure you'll do fine." Pyrrha placed a hand on his arm, offering a supportive smile that he had to return together with a light wag of his tail.

"Thanks, Pyrrha." He turned to Ren, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "I would wish good luck for you two but I'm sure you guys don't need it." He directed his attention to their shorter teammate "And Nora, don't blow the place up."

"You got it!" She made a dramatic salute with her hand.

A shout pierced the arena. "Nora!"

"Hey!" She turned to see Yang waving at her. "I'm going, guys. Good luck!"

"Are you ready to blow this place up?"

"Oh! You bet I do!"

* * *

So far so good, Jaune guessed. Ren and Pyrrha seemed to be doing great and the place didn't blow up -  _yet_. All he had to do now was to endure a spar with one of his former bullies.

Russell had only given him a look of complete disdain as he approached and he had decided to just ignore that, deciding instead in being nice enough to ask if he wanted to wait for the Professor to get to them or just start already.

He just answered with a  _"Whatever."_ but drew his daggers all the same.

Their spar was quite monotonous. Russell didn't seem to be trying at all, as if a match with him was not worthy of his precious time. The boy's stance was sloppy and his hits had no real force behind them. Since the objective was not bringing each other down, Jaune just went with it, but it felt more as if he was training with a dummy than with a real person.

Then apparently something snapped inside Russell's brain and he started to attack like he was fighting a mad Grimm. Jaune was taken aback for one second and almost got hit in the face with the hilt of one of the daggers, but managed to move out of the way unscathed to clumsily adapt to this new sudden faster rhythm.

He caught by the corner of his eye the reason for the change of pace - the Professor was walking to their direction.  _"He is trying to show off."_

Jaune had to resort to blocks and dodges; now his opponent was just attacking carelessly, an unstable stance with a reckless approach with each swing as if he was trying to demonstrate every move he had learned at the same time.

After almost getting his face ripped in half for the third time, Jaune had enough. Russell came charging at him, and with a spin of his blade - not forgetting to lift his arm just a little bit higher this time - one of the daggers flew from his hand with a simple disarming maneuver.

"Hey! What the hell!" Russell gritted his teeth and tried to advance one more time. His second dagger ended up by the Professor's feet.

"Professor! He didn't even let me finish! I-"

"I have seen enough." Russell's complains were shut down by a simple hand gesture from Goodwitch.

After a few taps on her Scroll, she added before walking to the next pair. "You will receive a notification with your grades by the end of the class."

Russell was collecting his weapons from the floor and Jaune was already leaving when the other boy's voice caught his attention. "If I get a bad grade because of your little  _tricks_ …"

Jaune paid no mind to those words, it was clearly an empty threat – if you could even call it one - so he just kept walking, glad that all of this was finally over.

A few other pairs had already been evaluated and left the place; his teammates were still there though. Nora was the only one that had finished her spar as well; she waved at him from the other side of the arena as he was approaching.

"So, how did it go?" Nora jumped in place. There were a few burn marks scattered around her clothes, the spot she and Yang had chosen for their match was quite obvious by the hole on the floor, someone from the school staff was putting away a now empty fire extinguisher.

"Honesty? I have no idea." He scratched the back of his head. "But I suppose yours went… well?"

"Oh! It totally did!" She pointed to the scorched floor behind her. "Also the fire was completely intentional."

"Of course it was." He shook his head. "Do you think it will be long till our grades drop?"

That was the cue for Nora's Scroll to beep. "Apparently not!"

"Oh, I got eight out of ten." She tapped her foot on the ground pensively. "It's good! But I wonder why I didn't get a higher grade."

Jaune just glanced to the side at a couple of students dodging the hole on the floor as they tried to leave the arena. "Yeah… I wonder why."

Nora caught the playfulness on his tone of voice and just stuck her tongue at him.

His own notification arrived only a few seconds after. "Ok!" He let go of a breath, his tail twitched apprehensively as Nora gave him two thumbs up. "Wish me luck!"

His tail went completely still the second he saw the number on his screen. "No. Way."

"What? What is it?!" Nora asked, trying to take a peek at his Scroll.

"I can't believe it…" He stared dumbfounded at the device on his hands. "Maybe it's some kind of mistake?"

"Jaune, what going on?" Her brow creased with concern and she winced, shrinking her shoulders. "Is it that bad?"

He shook his head, his tail started to wag in tandem with the movement. "Please tell me if I am seeing this right!"

He shoved the Scroll on her face, she had to take a step back to look at the screen. "Oh. Oh!" She immediately started to laugh, and then punched him on the shoulder. "You made me actually think that it was something bad! You got a ten!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. A ten…" He ran a hand through his hair. "I can't believe it! I don't get tens, Nora! Pyrrha gets tens! Weiss gets tens! I don't! The higher I ever got was last semester's clutch seven!"

"Are you really going to complain about it?" Nora raised an eyebrow, the smirk present on her tone of voice.

"I'm not complaining!" This was huge! Just a few months ago, he was the worse student of the class - and probably of the whole school too - and now he was acing a combat test! "I'm just… shocked!"

"Looks like Pyrrha's training is really paying off then." Nora elbowed his arm with a knowing grin on her face.

"Yeah..." His tail started to wag faster with the mention of his partner. "Yeah, it is!" He allowed the smile to spread fully through his face. "Where is she anyway?"

"Well, Pyrrha and Ren were still sparing." Nora shot a curious glance at the movement of her leader's tail. "I saw that the Professor was heading to their direction a few minutes ago- Ah!" She pointed at something behind him. "There they come now."

Ren and Pyrrha were walking towards the other half of the team, both checking their Scrolls for their freshly released grades.

Pyrrha raised her head to the sound of Nora's voice from the other side of the arena, just to see the girl pointing at her direction and Jaune by her side, his tail swaying vigorously.

Her partner had the biggest smile on his face, she could feel the happiness irradiating from him even with the distance. That caused a grin of her own to break through her expression and she sped up to see what was the fuzz all about.

"Pyrrha!" He called to her and is tail perked up, wagging noisily as he saw her jogging to his direction - even after a whole class of sparing, she still looked perfect. "You won't believe this! I-"

"Ow! Ow! Jaune!" Nora shouting behind him interrupted him. "I know you're happy, but please you don't need to beat me up too!" She had to close her eyes and wave her hands in front of her face to try to block a sudden fur attack.

"Oh! Sorry, Nora." He hadn't even noticed that his tail had accidentally whacked his teammate with his excitement.

He took a step forward - barely registering Nora's  _yeesh!_  from behind him - managing to slow it down the wagging for a bit. Then Pyrrha was in front of him, a hand raised to her mouth as she laughed at the scene and all his effort to keep his tail still was futile. "What are we happy about?"

"I- Look at this!" He showed her his phone, the ten still glowing brightly on the screen.

She put her hand over his to angle better the Scroll for her to see, his stomach fluttered together with his tail with the simple gesture, and for the one-hundredth time, he cursed the fact that they both wore gloves.

"Jaune, this is fantastic!" She beamed, looking up from the screen. "I'm so happy for you!"

His body was basically vibrating with the movement of his tail. "I know I said it before but I couldn't have done it without you." Pyrrha's cheeks raised to her glimmering eyes - she always gave him the best smiles when he thanked her - and he wanted to hug her  _so badly_  right now.

So this time, he gave in, and he did.

Pyrrha held back a gasp, a jolt of electricity went around her nerves with the feel of his hands around her waist. Their armor clattered together awkwardly, still, after a second of surprise, she dodged his shoulder pads to wrap her arms around his neck - not wanting to risk him thinking that she didn't like it, because that was  _very_  far from the case. And it seemed he got the message, because she felt him relax a bit under her arms at the same second.

She could feel the movement of his tail with their embrace. By impulse, she moved her hand lightly to give him a discreet scratch under his ear, he let out a chuckle and tilting his head slightly to the side, he touched his nose to her cheek - similar to the way he had done that other night - and whispered a  _"Thanks, Pyrrha."_  causing goosebumps to run through her skin.

Then he let go, quickly checking for any traces of disapproval from her part. The relief overcame him when he found none.

All of that lasted less than five seconds, but it had felt like an eternity. And during their exchange, both of them were oblivious to the knowing teasing smirks from the other half of the team.

* * *

"He totally likes you too, ya know."

"Nora!"

"Just sayin'!"

"And… what makes you say that?"

"Hmm… I don't know… Let me think- Maybe  _the giant hug he gave you?!"_

"That… doesn't prove anything. It was just a quick hug! Friends hug each other all the time! You hug Ren all the time! Actually, you hug  _everyone_  all the time!"

"Suuuure, Pyrrha. And what about how his tail wags when he sees you?"

"Nora, Jaune's tail wags when he sees  _any_  of his friends."

"No, no. You don't get it. His tail wags for his friends like… like a greeting! Like he's just saying  _hi!_ "

"And…?"

"And for you, it basically spells  _I love you!_  in tail code! Come on, the difference is really obvious!"

_"Tail code?"_

"It's a thing, really. And as a victim of his wagging once, I know first-hand that it's true."

"I don't know… I think this is a bit of a stretch…"

"Why it's so hard for you to believe the signs?"

"I- Because… I don't know. I think… there's a possibility of him just seeing me as a sister or something like that…"

"That's… really stupid! If there's someone Jaune sees as a sister that someone is Ruby, and maybe even me! But not you! Where did you get this idea?!"

"I… I just don't want to give myself false hope..."

"Pyrrha-"

"And… And what if I tell him, Nora? And he doesn't feel the same way? Everything would get awkward! He would probably stop talking to me! Wouldn't want to see me and distance himself too! It would be bad for our partnership! It would be bad for the team! It would be bad for our classes and for our grades and he's working so hard for them and doing so well I don't want that to happen!"

"Hey, hey, Pyrrha, look at me. We both know that Jaune wouldn't do this. He's too loyal for that. You know… like a puppy!"

"Ha… Yes, maybe… I overreacted, I'm sorry. It's just… He was my first friend in forever Nora, I don't want to ruin this."

"Hey… Don't apologize… Come here."

"… See… you hug everyone all the time…"

"Because everyone needs a hug from time to time silly."

"Thanks, Nora."

"Actually… Maybe I should call Jaune to do this instead of me."

"Nora!"

"And I bet all my money that he wouldn't say no."

"Not this again. You know what? I think I'm going to train for a bit."

"Pyrrha! Don't run away from the truth!"

"I'm not running. Just leaving."

"Ok, ok. Fine. Just one last question!"

"Nora..."

"Ok, listen! Why for the past weeks Jaune is coming back from your  _training_  with disheveled hair, face red as your hair, tail wagging like there's no tomorrow and the dopiest smile on his face?"

"Nora! No! He doesn't- We are not doing anything! Training is just training"

"Just askin'!"

* * *

Everything had been going well.  _Too well._  Of course, with his luck, that chain of fortunate events had to be broken.

And the first thing that came to do exactly that, was something as simple as the weather forecast.

It had been raining for three days straight, and by the looks of it, it wasn't going to stop anytime soon.

Jaune stared at the pouring rain from the doorframe of the building where he was just having his leadership class. The landscape before him was basically a blur of thick raindrops, the noise of the storm was almost deafening, muffling his own thoughts, the puddles scattered around the damp grass could be considered small lakes at this point, the wind made him shudder even from his safe spot inside, and it was so wild that he couldn't tell the direction it was blowing, making any attempts of using an umbrella completely pointless.

He considered his options - and they weren't many - he could just go for it, it was just water after all, but the building where he had this class was the farthest from the dorms, it would be a really long run with a lot of dodge of huge puddles while not even being able to see three feet in front of him because of the heavy rain.

He wished that he had a Semblance like Ruby's to just burst into rose petals and arrive at the safety of their dorms without worrying about any of that. She had actually offered him a ride as she was leaving, but he knew that doing that would be very tiring for her, so he passed.

And then he could just wait. If the rain followed the pattern from the last days, it would calm down for a bit by nightfall in a few minutes, before picking up again some hours later.

He had noticed that pattern pretty well all right. After all, it tricked him into thinking that the rain would stop by the afternoon all those days, but his hopes were crushed just a little time later, with a new and fresh downpour.

This upset him more than he would have liked. If it was raining then the roof would completely wet, if it was wet, then it was unsafe for training, if there was no training then that meant the times when it was just him and Pyrrha were more scarce, and no training meant no breaks, and no breaks meant no head pats.

A little voice inside his head told him that he was being selfish and clingy for thinking this way. But he couldn't help it, it had been three days of storms and five since their last training session, and he genuinely missed those times with Pyrrha. He missed her smirks during their spars, the encouraging words of guidance during her instructions and their talks about nothing and everything during their breaks, just as much as he missed the tingles caused by her fingers combing through his hair.

They still spent time together of course, but now since no one could barely place one foot outside without being drenched to the bone, that meant that, aside from classes, they could only hang out at their room - where Ren and Nora were always with them - or at the dorms recreation area - where the other teams also hang out in times like this.

It just wasn't the same.

A gust of wind splashed some raindrops on his face, as if it was telling him to make his decision about going or staying already. He shook his head, opting for waiting just a bit longer, and if he was going to do that, it would be better if he went back inside where it was warmer.

Jaune turned around to the direction of the classrooms, only to regret deeply his decision immediately.

He was already turning back to the door to just go and face the downpour already when a heavy hand patted him on the shoulder; his tail flinched between his legs. "Hey! If it isn't my buddy Jaune. It's raining some cats and dogs today, hm?"

"What do you want Cardin?" Jaune did his best to keep his tone of voice normal, but wasn't really successful, his annoyance dripping to every word.

"Wow! Can't I just talk to a friend?" Cardin kept his friendly facade, but Jaune could detect the mocking tone behind his words.

"I am not your friend." Jaune jerked away from the other boy's grip. "And I have to go."

He didn't even take a step forward before Cardin interrupted the action once again with a hand on his shoulder. "Actually,  _buddy_. I do have a bone to pick up with you."

Jaune's tail shuddered. "Whatever it is, I don't have time for it."

Cardin ignored him completely. "You told me to not mess with your team, and I decided to be nice and do you this favor. But that doesn't mean you can take advantage of that and mess with  _my team_  instead."

Jaune once again pulled himself away from the grip that was starting to hurt. "I have absolutely no idea of what you're talking about."

"I think you do, pal. I saw what you did to Russell at Goodwitch's class. Just took one step from the Professor at your way and you had to start showing off your little dirty tricks. Expecting a treat weren't you?"

_"What!?"_

"You heard me!"

His expression morphed into pure indignation. "This… is ridiculous. Are talking about me disarming your friend because  _he_  was the one that decided to show off when the Professor arrived? And the  _dirty trick_  is supposed to be the one we learned in class, a class that if I remember well,  _your team_  didn't even bother to show up?"

Cardin seemed taken aback by his sudden retaliation for a split of second before he scowled. "You think you're smart? Just because the dog has a trainer now?"

His tail shook with irritation when he realized the other boy was talking about Pyrrha. "You know what? I'm tired of this. I'm not obligated to listen to your nonsense."

"Yeah, yeah, me too. And since you broke our little truce..." He cracked his knuckles. "... Keep in mind that I haven't forgotten about your little secret."

Jaune took a deep breath; he really didn't want to deal with this -  _again_. "What's your problem?"

Cardin only frowned at his question.

"Yeah! You're always looking for pathetic excuses for picking on me and on the other faunus on the school. Don't you have anything better to do? Or you just enjoy making other people suffer? Are you that low?" He shook his head. "Actually, those were dumb questions, we already know the answer."

The other boy gritted his teeth. "Yeah, you're right! Let's end this once and for all then." Jaune only raised an eyebrow. "You-" Cardin poked him in the shoulder painfully. "And me. Tomorrow at the combat arena as soon as the classes are done for the day."

Cardin shoved him out of the way to head out to the door - if that happened months ago Jaune would probably have fallen, but this time he kept his stance. "And if you aren't the coward dog that you were before you will show up."

Thunder cracked in the distance, and soon Jaune was alone at the building's lobby again.

He hadn't even noticed that the frown hadn't left his face until the rain stopped and he was able to leave, his expression softened as he inhaled the scent of wet grass and he finally headed to the dorms.

Jaune had to admit that he felt a bit disappointed to see that only Ren was in the room, but he already knew that Pyrrha wouldn't be there - she and Nora had planned to hang out with team RWBY after class, and they probably weren't coming back until way later.

So after sending a quick  _hi_  to Ren, he did his best to distract himself for the night.

He took a long warm shower, took his time brushing the fur of his tail, played games on his Scroll, started reading the chapter of Professor's Port book for next class, watched the newest episode of a series he liked, and when all of this was over, he was surprised to see that it was still some time before the hour he usually went to sleep.

Jaune just sighed. Going to bed earlier seemed like a good idea actually.

"Ren, I think I'm going to bed already." He called his teammate, who had been absorbed in one of his books. "Do you mind if I turn off the lights of my side of the room?"

"Not at all, go ahead." Jaune took notice of the worried glance Ren sent him, before turning off the lights and getting under his covers.

He didn't find the sleep he was looking for though. Only realizing how much time passed and how he hadn't even managed to shut his eyes yet when Ren turned off his own lights and went to bed.

It was no surprise, he had tried his best to ignore what had happened with Cardin and calm himself down but he just couldn't.

All of that was so unnecessary! He thought that he was free from the other boy's bullying months ago, but it seemed that he was just waiting for another opening to get back at it again, as if he got bored of not having someone to bother constantly.

And now Cardin wanted to fight him. And he really didn't want to deal with that. But if he didn't show up, he supposed that it would only make things worse; and if he did, there was a possibility that he would lose the fight, and Cardin wouldn't let him forget it for the next four years, and if Jaune won, the bully would just have another reason to want to make his life miserable.

And that meant the risk of the history of his fake transcripts leaking and being expelled.

His eyes snapped open with his vision comfortably adjusting to the dark ambiance as he heard muffled laughter from the corridor outside. Ruby's high-pitched giggles and Nora's loud laugh were the most prominent among the noise caused by the six girls. Still, between that and one of Yang's horrible puns, Weiss soft scoffs, and Blake telling them to be quieter, he could still distinguish Pyrrha's melodious laughter in a heartbeat.

He shut his eyes again when the door opened. Nora was quick to get ready to sleep and throw herself at the pile of stuffed animals that she called her bed.

He only realized that he had been watching Pyrrha move around the room through half-lidded eyes when she looked at his direction for a second before she left for the bathroom. Jaune held his breathing, silently wishing that he hadn't been caught staring.

Apparently, he hadn't. Sometimes he forgot his eyesight at night was better than his teammate's.

He only cracked his eyes open again times later when he heard the bed by his side creaking. Pyrrha had her back to him; streaks of light that had managed to peek from the closed curtain contoured her figure. He wanted to just go to her and tell about what happened, be by her side and listen to her soothing voice, he wanted to feel her hand combing through his hair and maybe hug her again?

His leg and his tail twitched involuntarily, as if his muscles were pushing him to her direction. The idea of just going to her to tell everything - and maybe…  _very maybe_ , get some pets in the process? Pets that could maybe,  _very much maybe_  end up in some cuddles? - seemed like a  _very good_  one.

Pyrrha shifted in her bed until she was facing him, and Jaune froze. His tail that had started to wag without him noticing dropped immediately, and he buried his now burning face into the pillow in his arms, taking notice of his quickened heartbeat, and cursing his highly affectionate mind for whatever was supposed to be the number of times for the past months.

He took a peek from behind the pillowcase after some time, letting go of a breath when realizing that he was the only one having trouble sleeping that night; his partner was fast asleep, unaware of his agitation.

Seeing her sleeping so soundly made him drowsy, so after a yawn, he finally closed his eyes.

Jaune was going to tell Pyrrha everything for sure. After all, it was because of her that he knew that if he needed some help, he could just ask. He was just not going to do that so soon though. Making up his mind about how he was going to deal with this situation, he knew he had one thing to do first.

* * *

Jaune scanned the halls, dodging mindlessly the students going to the opposite direction as him. He had one goal in mind, and for that, he needed to find one person to talk.

And it didn't take long to find her.

"Professor Goodwitch!" He called, the woman was taping quickly to her Scroll, probably notes from the class she had just dismissed.

"Oh. Hello Mr. Arc." She pushed her glasses up her nose, expecting him to continue.

"Hm, hi Professor. Do you have some spare time when I can talk to you?" He stopped fumbling with his hands, his expression turning serious. "It's important."

"Of course." She seemed to catch on the weight of the subject by the change on his tone of voice. "Is there a problem?"

"Actually, yes. There is."

In the middle of all the rubbish Cardin had said, he had been right at one thing. This was going to end once for and for all.

* * *

Pyrrha flung open the door to the rooftop; it had been a few hours since Jaune stormed off babbling that he had to find someone, and he hadn't come back to the dorms since then, and for some reason, she had a feeling that he would be there.

She let out a disappointed sigh when the view that greeted her was only the empty roof, a few tiny puddles scattered around the nearly dry floor, with the usual view of the Beacon tower now bathed by the sunlight that was starting to peek out from between the dispersing clouds.

"Pyrrha?" She already had one foot out the door when she heard the familiar voice calling.

"Jaune!" She closed the door that was previously blocking her view to her partner, who instead of being at their usual spot over the edge of the roof, was sitting leaning against the wall.

"Where have you been? We were looking for you." Relief and worry mixed into her words. He had his arms wrapped around his bent knees, his chin supported by them, with his tail curled around his body - which was unmovable until she took steps at his direction, when it started to wag lightly.

"Sorry." He raised his head, scratching the back of his neck. "I had to deal with some stuff."

Her brow furrowed. "Is everything alright?"

He let out a tired sigh, looking down at his feet. "I hope it will be…" Turning his head to her direction again before she could even say anything, he patted the floor next to where he was sitting. "Let me tell you what happened."

* * *

"Then after telling the Professor..." Jaune gesticulated with his hands as he talked. "She wasn't surprised about what happened, but she was surprised by me telling her about it."

"They had already talked to Cardin about his behavior many times before, gave him detention and counseling, even threatened his grades, and he actually had settled down for a while. But guess he was only being more  _discreet_  with his bullying or something like that. So she told me that she would have to talk to the staff to see what they can do next." He let out a huff of annoyance. "They could finally expel him, I don't know."

"The good thing is that the Professor said she would bring that up in a meeting she has today. And she also told me to not to worry about going to  _meet_  Cardin later." He let out a weak chuckle. "I have no idea what she's going to do, but I don't know if I want to know. She seemed pretty done with Cardin's behavior."

He ran a hand through his hair. "But… I don't know if I did the right thing? I mean… I think I did, but I can't help but feel like this is just throwing my problems at other people's hands or something like that."

"I believe you did the right thing." Pyrrha spoke up after listening attentively to her partner's words. "If you went with Cardin's plan you be just doing what he would want, playing his game." Her irritation leaked into her tone of voice. "And even if you fought him and won, there's no guarantee that he would stop." She placed a hand on his shoulder. "The teachers can take direct actions about this, and we'll make sure they do."

"I… yeah! You're right." He managed to give her a smile, and her expression softened. "But… hm, that's not all of it…" He turned away from her gaze, fidgeting with his hands.

"No?"

He shook his head before continuing. "When I finished talking about that with the Professor… I asked her when I could talk to Ozpin… about one more thing."

Pyrrha's grip on his shoulder got firmer unintentionally.

"I decided that I'm going to tell him. About my transcripts... I know I can be expelled for this, but I- I want to believe that I won't! It's just… I'm tired of having this used against me and I'm tired of keeping it a secret." He slid down against the wall, slouching on the floor, and after letting go of a deep breath, he added. "I'm just tired of all that."

There were a few seconds of silence before Pyrrha's voice quietly broke it. "And when… When are you going to tell him?"

"Today… As soon as classes end for the day."

"So... while Professor Goodwitch will be dealing with Cardin… You will be talking to the Headmaster…"

"That's right." He lazily kicked the junction between the floor tiles, his tail shuddered and his brow furrowed in trepidation.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha finally looked at her partner after the seconds she took to process the new information.

"Hm?" He looked up to her, the usual enchanting shine of his eyes clouded by worry. Her throat tightened.

Pyrrha knew that the situation with Jaune's transcripts could end very badly, and the threat of him being expelled was very real if his secret got out. But she actually had forgotten about it, everything was going so well for the past months, her partner was doing amazingly on his classes that he didn't even look like the same person that tried to dodge her question of  _did you know what Aura is_.

And now the dread was back, one word from the Headmaster in just a few hours could result in her losing her partner.

Yet… "I… I am proud of you for telling the truth." She let a smile overcome her face. "And… that whatever happens, we will be here for you. I… have a feeling that everything will be alright."

The uneasiness slowly melted away from his expression, his eyes recovered a bit of its glimmer - maybe because of a few stray tears. "Thanks, Pyrrha."

"Come here." She stretched her arms to his direction, not being able to stand to see him so down any longer. He perked up immediately, his tail thumping excitedly against the floor.

Pyrrha wanted to hug him! And he was not going to waste any more time! Jaune pushed his body up from the uncomfortable position he got himself into as fast as he could, only to fall back clumsily over his own arm when he miscalculated the strength he needed for the movement.

Pyrrha didn't hold back her giggles, her partner shook his head cutely to get his bangs out of his eyes, his tail not slowing down for not even one second. Without even thinking, since he was already on the floor and so close, she placed her hands on his arms, guiding him to a more comfortable position, laying his head on her lap.

Jaune made absolutely no objection to the change of position as soon as he realized where it was going. His face heated up and his nerves tingled - this was just as amazing as a hug.

"Is this ok?" Pyrrha asked, and Jaune only flustered nodded; she was really comfy.

She ruffled the top of his hair and buried her fingers on his mess of blonde, as she always did, but this time there was something different - and it wasn't just because of their position.

Pyrrha always petted him while on their training session's breaks, but now they just had came from class, she wasn't on her combat gear, she wasn't wearing gloves. With the leather around her skin, she could only feel how smooth his hair was, but without it, she could appreciate how soft it was too. It was obvious Jaune took good care of it, the strands felt comforting against her palm, it actually reminded her of a fluffy dog's fur - she wondered if his tail would feel just as soft.

Her nails slid through his scalp and Jaune barely managed to hold back a gasp, a tiny murmur escaped instead. He instinctively moved around her lap, until he was facing the edge of the roof, her touch slipped to behind his ear, scratching down all the way to the back of his neck, the hair all around his body stood up as she tugged softly the strands there.

He could feel the warmth of her hands against his skin, together with the scrap of her nails. If her caress was good before, now it was almost indescribable.

Soon her fingers started to follow a pattern, ruffling the top of his head lightly before slipping down to his neck. He closed his eyes, relaxing under her touch, occasionally letting out a content hum, the wag of his tail turned lazy, his breathing steadied, his thoughts turned hazy… maybe he could just…

Pyrrha poked him on the cheek. "Don't fall asleep."

Jaune cracked his eyes open, looking up at her smile. "If I do, it will be your fault."

 _It's your fault that you're so cute_. "If you do, you're going to miss your meeting."

"We still have a bit of time." He stretched his limbs, letting out a sigh. "Don't we?"

She giggled. "See? You're not even keeping track."

Jaune turned around on her lap, reaching for his Scroll on his pocket to take a look at the time. "See? A few more minutes!"

He put his phone away, and without looking up back to her, he called. "Pyrrha?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think… that if they kick me out, they will let me try to get in again next year?" He fidgeted with buttons of his uniform over his chest. "For real this time?"

Her touch came into a halt. "They won't kick you out."

He finally looked up to her, and she let out a sigh at his expression. "But if that happens… I'm sure they will let you try. And I'm sure you will definitely pass."

He nodded, averting her gaze again. "If I pass… I wonder if I can get back to you guys... Or if I'll have a new team..." His tail twitched apprehensively. "Can we still have our training sessions? If we have time?"

"Of course!" Her smile got a little bit brighter, but still didn't quite reach her eyes. "Whatever the outcome... That day I said that we wouldn't have to stop, remember?" She ran her fingertips through his forehead, brushing his bangs gently to the side, warmth spread around his face. "And new team or not... You will always be my partner."

Her touch lightly drifted to behind his ear in a comforting scratch, a real smile adorned her face now and he wasn't able to take his eyes off it, his mouth felt dry, his heart was pounding against his ribcage energetically, but at the same time, he had never felt calmer.

With her tender gaze and caring touch, it really felt like everything would work out in the end, it felt right, it felt like home, it felt like love.

A skip of a beat.

_He loved her so much._

"Pyrrha... I- I..." He stuttered, the words fumbling under his tongue, his tail was back at wagging at full force. "I…" He breathed, and the movement slowed down. "I never got to repay you..."

"Repay me?" She tilted her head to the side.

He nodded. "Yeah! For everything you did for me!" He made wide gestures with his hands. "I mean, you were the first person to believe in me! I literally wouldn't be here if it weren't for you!" He calmed his arms, letting them drop on the floor; one of his hands accidentally fell over hers, followed by a light gasp by her part, and in a moment of bravery, he kept it there.

"I guess... I'm just trying to say that... you've always been there for me... even when I didn't deserve it. And I feel like it's not fair. So... I don't know. I wish I could do something for you… like you did for me."

Pyrrha blinked, her heart racing with his words.  _He had no idea…_

She moved the hand that was under his, and quick enough for Jaune to not interpret as her wanting him to let go, she laced their fingers together. He stiffened for a second with the new contact, but soon he relaxed, his tail sweeping against the floor vigorously. "You're already doing it."

His face flushed, he tilted his head to the side, but before he could ask what she meant, the buzz of his Scroll interrupted their moment.

Pyrrha squeezed his hand. "Is it time?"

He nodded. "Yeah… I have to go..."

She ruffled his hair one last time, his hand lingered on her grip for one more second. Then they let go, and soon they were up.

Jaune stretched his body after all that time on the floor, shaking his head - his hair was probably a mess.

"Oh! Wait." Pyrrha stepped in front of him, and raising her arm, she patted the wild strands back to their place. "There."

He couldn't help but chuckle. "Thanks, Pyrrha." Jaune patted his coat to get rid of wrinkles. "Ok, wish me luck!"

Pyrrha opened her mouth to do just that, but soon closed it. A smirk flashed on her lips before she took a firm step forward.

Jaune's breath hitched with her sudden proximity, they were almost nose to nose, in a way he could distinguish the flecks of gold between the shades of green of her eyes, his tail perked up, wagging in expectation.

He was not disappointed to feel Pyrrha's arms coming around his waist, and he wasn't able to hold back his gasp this time when she touched her nose to his now burning cheek, nuzzling him lightly, in the same way he had done to her twice before. "Good luck."

She let go before he could even reciprocate the hug - which was in some way a good thing, because if she had kept that up, he wouldn't have the will to leave.

Pyrrha pushed Jaune's flustered self to the direction of the door. "C'mon, you don't want to let the Headmaster waiting."

"I… Y-yeah, right." He finally remembered how his limbs worked to use them to walk to the exit and open the door.

He gave one last glance to her, she gave him one last smile and soon the door was between them.

Both leaned against it the same second they were alone, covering their reddening faces, unaware of each other's presence from the opposite side.

Jaune could still feel Pyrrha's touch burning on his skin in the most amazing way as his heartbeat pounded on his ears. Pyrrha was still full of butterflies on her stomach because of what she had done and because of the things Jaune had said to her before.

Soon they both shook their heads and headed to opposite directions. Pyrrha to sit on the edge of the roof to attempt to cool off, and Jaune to head down the stairs, to a meeting that could change his future forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! If you got here without stopping… nice! \o/ But now is a good time to take a glass of water, or go to the bathroom, or rest your eyes a bit cuz I wanted that “”cliffhanger”” to be a thing and that caused the next chapter to turn out bIG!


	3. Kisses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be warned that the amount of fluff of this chapter is ridiculously high.

Pyrrha's firm steps reverberated around the empty corridor, she hadn't realized when she had started walking in this rushed manner, almost running, but she did know why.

The light pierced the windows making the pure white walls of the dorm's hall acquire an orange glow and the lampposts all around Beacon gradually flickered on with the first signs of the sunset.

And Jaune wasn't back yet.

She was nervous, and after Nora had commented that she would burn a hole on their room's the carpet with her pacing, she had decided to head down to the kitchen - maybe some tea or even a glass of cold water would help.

Lost in her thoughts, Pyrrha hadn't realized that the sound of another set of running footsteps mixed with hers until it came from the end of the same corridor she was walking.

"Pyrrha!" The shout came from behind her, the voice of her partner made her stop immediately. Before she could even turn around to his direction, a weight slammed against her back and arms wrapped around her waist in a surprise hug.

She gasped as Jaune buried his face on her shoulder; she felt his heavy breathing and quickened heartbeat even though the fabric of her uniform - it seemed he had been running for a while.

However, if there was one thing she didn't feel, it was the characteristic movement of his tail that was very noticeable in every hug they had. And if his tail wasn't wagging…

The butterflies in her stomach that had awakened with his embrace suddenly turned into uncomfortable weights. "Don't tell me this is a goodbye hug…"

He shook his head; strands of his soft hair tickled her cheek. "He already knew…" The reply came out as a muffled murmur.

"He what?!"

"Apparently he knew since the first weeks..." He supported his chin on her shoulder, his voice still a low whisper. "Still… he had allowed me to stay."

"But in the beginning, he had only done that because expelling someone in this school is basically the last resort. Taking a person away from a team is really complicated…" The grip around her quivered a bit, as if he was going to let go and his muscles had hesitated the separation. So, placing her hands over his wrists, she coaxed him to stay.

And he did. "Then… then the teachers saw how much I was improving. And he said to me that that made him believe he had made the right decision."

She perked up at his last words - causing her to realize that she had unconsciously leaned against his chest as he talked - and spun around quickly so she was facing him. "You're staying!" Laughs of relief intertwined with her voice.

"I'm staying!" His tail finally awoke with some firm wags, he chuckled with her and for one second his eyes had recovered that charming sparkle that she had missed  _so much._

Then he looked down, his tail stopped moving. "But… I think I accidentally managed to make some things more complicated for me."

"What do you mean?"

"I was so nervous about talking to Ozpin about all of that and so shocked at what he had said… And I still am!" He laughed awkwardly and held his hands in front of her - they were shaking slightly. As if it was instinct, she promptly took them with her own hands, followed by a reassuring squeeze. "And I straight up said ' _it can't be this simple, right?_ ' I mean, I had just spilled to the Headmaster of the most important academy of the world that I had cheated my way in!"

Pyrrha tilted her head waiting for him to continue, her expression a mix of worry and curiosity.

"And he said that yes, it could be that simple… Or he could give me a chance to _fix_ everything." Jaune shook his head, still dumbfounded about what had transpired at his meeting. "And I decided to do the right thing!"

She had to let out a few giggles at his baffled expression. "And what is the right thing supposed to be?"

"A test." He tipped on his toes. "More like a series of tests actually. As if I was doing the entrance exams, but a little bit more advanced. And in the end, the results would become my real transcripts."

"Jaune! This is fantastic!" Pyrrha beamed, squeezing his hands one more time. She saw his tail perking up by the corner of her eyes with her reaction.

"Yeah, it is." He smiled back at her. "But it's going to be really hard, and exhausting because it would be taking place at the end of the semester together with our regular exams, and all the pressure of the results being my new records..." Even with his list of difficulties, the grin never left his face, displaying how happy he actually was with the opportunity. "… I would have to train _a lot_ harder than before."

It was his turn to squeeze her hands. "And I know I said I wanted to repay you… And I still do! But because of that, I need to ask you for your help one more time."

His cheeks tinted pink, his smile turned sheepish, his tail wagged shyly as he stared at his feet. "So... Even with all of that… Would you still be willing to help me... to help me become a better fighter?"

Pyrrha let go of his hands, and he started to ramble at the same second. "I'm sorry if I'm asking for too much I shouldn't just throw those things at y-"

Jaune shut up at the same second she tossed her now free arms around his shoulders. He stumbled back a bit in surprise, his hand instinctively going resting on her lower back for support.

"Of course I'll help you!" The light flush of his cheek turned into burning heat with her hug, his tail was faster to react than his brain and the rest of his body by wagging until the sound was loud enough to bounce through the hall.

Soon he remembered how to move; relaxing under her arms, he let go of a breath that tickled her neck and pulled her closer, his other hand resting between her shoulder blades to do so.

They had only hugged each other a few times, and they all had been very brief. Yet, Pyrrha had already determined that Jaune gave the best hugs, and she had absolutely no problem with this one being a little longer.

He was so soft and warm, everything about him felt _comforting_. Even his scent - tinged by the smell of leather and of the soap his mom was adamant to send him, even after he insisted that she didn't need to do that many times - felt homely. The way he held her, as if she was something precious - delicately not to break yet eager to have close - made her never want to let go.

She quietly wished he had been wearing his hoodie instead of their stiff uniforms, wanting to lean on the plushy fabric without his chest plate on the way, but she pushed the thought to the back of her mind. Maybe next time - and by the way she could feel the wag of his tail with their proximity, she had a feeling that it wouldn't take long for that to happen.

She messed with his hair on the back of his head and he laughed, raising his head a bit. His nose rubbed her cheek right after, a gesture that was starting to feel familiar, and she leaned into his touch.

"Thank you."

His smiling lips accidentally brushed against her skin with his words, not quite a kiss, but still made electricity flood her nerves as if it had been one.

She felt so happy! The danger of his partner one day having to leave was gone, and now she had him on her arms, his caring gestures heating up her skin and making her heart soar.

She felt loved.

A content sigh.

_She loved him so much._

Neither of them had the rush to let go, but eventually - and a bit hesitantly - they did. Especially because they heard the sound of the door of the building opening and closing a few times down the lobby, the voices of the students arriving from their afternoon classes gradually filling the halls.

"Let's go! I want to tell the others!" He was beaming, a cute, quite obvious blush on his cheeks - and this time she was sure it wasn't because of exertion from training or because the situation was embarrassing for him. _There was something else._ And the way he shyly looked away for a second after their eyes met after their hug only confirmed it.

Pyrrha didn't have any siblings, but she was sure a person didn't look at a family member that way.

"Let's!" She matched his smile, and feeling a bit more confident than usual, took his hand - instead of his arm as she usually did - leading the way to their room.

They didn't let go until they arrived there.

* * *

 

That same night they headed to the rooftop. Because they had no time to lose, but mainly just because they could.

Jaune stretched until he heard some of his joints cracking with a satisfying sound, his tail swaying against the breeze as content sigh found its way out of his lips. The sky was finally clear from any traces of storms after days of heavy clouds, allowing the school grounds to be decorated by the shine of the stars.

"It feels like we haven't been here for training in forever!" He relaxed his muscles to unsheathe his sword, turning around to face his partner. "I missed it…"

Pyrrha's spear and shield flew to her hands with an elegant motion. "We got some catching up to do then."

He had to stop his tail from wagging as he assumed his stance, but didn't restrain a smile from spread freely through his face.

Their spar ended up having more of a playful tone, their joyful laughs intercalated with the sound of colliding metal more than usual. They both knew his big test would approach soon; still, the happiness that came with the news that he was going to stay, that he would have the opportunity to fix everything, and just of being the two of them at the rooftop again, cleared his mind of any uneasiness and anxiety.

He felt as if there was nothing to fear as long as she was by his side.

Then there was a moment in the night when he caught her smile turning into a teasing smirk a second too late.

After a block that was too rushed to be completely effective, a stumble backward and one last advance, Jaune was on the floor, looking up at his partner smiling at him, not a single strand of her hair out of place. "Break time?"

The movement of his tail hadn't to be restricted by his stance anymore. "Break time!"

As much as he wanted to lay on her lap again, he pushed the idea to the back of his mind, sitting by her side on the edge of the roof as usual.

Pyrrha raised her hand as soon as they were settled, his tail shook in anticipation but went completely still when no contact came.

"Wait!" He looked to her as Pyrrha retracted her hand that had been so close, and a tiny whimper of confusion escaped from his lips before he could even register.

"Just one second." She giggled at the sound. "Let me do something first."

He tilted his head curiously as she directed her attention to her arms, her fingers quickly went to work on the ties of her gloves, losing them up with swift tugs. The moment he realized what she was doing his tail perked up again immediately.

After freeing her hands from the leather with incredible agility, she turned on the floor, retrieving her legs from the edge, until she was facing him.

Jaune leaned his head to the side to watch her, and before he could ask what was up with the change of position, his mouth was left hanging open by the electrifying feeling of _both_ of her hands burying into his hair, her nails scratching up all the way from his nape to his scalp.

A sound between a gasp and a yelp escaped too quickly for him to think of even trying to restrain it, the jolt of energy elicited by her touch caused his back to straighten and the fur of his tail to stand up in shock.

And for his distress, she took his surprised reaction as a disapproving sign, and she jerked her hands away in the same second. "I'm sorry! I should have asked I'm so sorry-"

"No!" He barely registered that Pyrrha thought she had done something that he didn't like, and that was _very_ _wrong_ , her hands were _really far_ now and why was she apologizing?

So he moved his body forward without even thinking, head-butting her hands lightly. "I was… I was just a little surprised, that's all."

He heard a breath of relief before her fists uncurled between his strands. "Sorry for surprising you."

"Don't be." He looked up to her, only to avert his gaze at the same second their eyes met, realizing how close he had gotten when he pushed his head forward. "I- I liked it."

Pyrrha only hummed in response, and her fingers started to move before he could restore the distance between them.

His breath hitched. They were so close; he could kiss her with just a quick movement upwards, or lean into her shoulder by just tilting his head to the side by a fraction.

He was too much of a coward to even attempt the first option, and even though he hadn't exactly a huge supply of courage for the second one, it was _so_ _tempting_. It would totally give him a more comfortable support for his position, and he would be able to hide his burning face that was probably being flooded by a diversified mix of red and pink at this point.

And of course, the fact that he would be basically cuddling with her added a lot of points to his mental list of pros.

He was just going to start thinking about the cons when her hands slipped to the back of his head, one drifting to the side to scratch behind his ear, and every single bit of resistance he was supposed to have crumbled, he closed his eyes and he let himself fall.

Pyrrha's already fast heartbeat went frenetic as Jaune snuggled into her shoulder. A sharp breath caught up on her throat, and she released it in a way that was certainly unnatural, but at least she hoped it had been quiet enough for him not realize her startle.

She inhaled and exhaled as softly as she was able, the same way she always did before a battle to calm her nerves down. The scent of his hair filled her nostrils - coconut maybe? - she held herself back from nuzzling her cheek against his soft strands, still too busy trying her best to normalize her quickened breathing and jarring heartbeat, regulate the temperature of her face and restrain her hands from shaking.

Especially after he shifted around a bit as she moved her fingers, his nose brushing against her skin lightly for a second, a puff of air heating up the spot between her neck and shoulders.

Pyrrha made the mistake of glancing down to him. She could only discern the corner of his satisfied smile with his position, his flushed cheeks raised to his eyes, he had the audacity of letting out one of his cute sounds at that exact moment - but guess it was partially her fault for tickling his nape - and of being completely, utterly, ridiculously adorable.

_How was she supposed to deal with that?!_

It was pretty obvious breathing exercises were absolutely useless at this point, and she really didn't want him to take her jumpiness, heavy breaths and loud heartbeat as discomfort.

She had to find something else to focus on for a while, and quick!

Pyrrha looked around; the movement of his tail was the first thing that caught her attention. It waved from side to side rhythmically, almost like a pendulum - she knew it only wagged this way and with this speed when her partner was completely relaxed.

So maybe she could relax too. She kept her eyes on his lazy sways as she petted his hair, and it wasn't hard to maintain her focus on it. It was almost hypnotic, her breathing soon synchronized with his rhythm as the fur of his tail swept lightly against the floor tiles. It looked so fluffy and soft; she wondered one more time if it would feel just as smooth as his hair, suddenly filled with the urge of wanting to run her fingers through it to obtain her answer.

Could she even do that though? Was touching a faunus' tail considered invasive? Or offensive or disrespectful? She didn't know.

She supposed she could ask, sure that Jaune would be mad at her for doing so. But with the possibility of making things awkward if his response was negative being very real, she didn't know if it was worth the risk.

He let out a serene hum as her fingertips stroked up the back of his neck, the satisfied sound helping her decide that just watching was more than enough for now.

She found herself leaning against the top of his head as she relaxed, and for her amusement, his tail sped up immediately after the contact.

Her lips curled up in a small smirk; since she was just watching, maybe she could see the other reactions she could get out of him.

Her fingertips were following the pattern of lightly combing up and down his scalp for some time now, so she changed that. Making sure she was using her nails, Pyrrha stroked down until she reached the bare skin of his nape and the edge of his hoodie, she moved upwards soon after, stopping to gently tug the tips of the strands on the back of his neck.

She felt his gasp against her skin, his wagging now strong enough to produce the familiar sound as it pierced the evening air.

She knew well what he liked and how he acted while she gave him some pats, the have been doing this during their breaks for a while after all, but now she had the opportunity to observe his reactions closely, without the fear of being caught staring or being distracted by his cute smiles.

So without wasting any more time, she slipped her fingers to his favorite spot.

Pyrrha felt his breath hitch, his tail perked up in the same split of a second, rising from the floor, still wagging enthusiastically as she gave him twin scratches behind both of his ears.

His body shook slightly following the fast movement of his tail, the strands of his hair against her cheek were starting to tickle her skin, so she moved to attenuate the itch.

Nuzzling him had been unintentional at the beginning, but then she just went with it; she had stopped herself for doing it earlier, and she found out that she wasn't strong enough to resist twice.

She kept one eye on his tail. It wagged like crazy as she moved her cheek, and jolted in surprise before picking up the pace again as she turned her head, rubbing her nose on his fluffy hair.

Pyrrha realized one second too late that she had pressed her lips against the top of his head in a light kiss.

She went completely still. A weird combination of panic and satisfaction combined with the wild fluttering on her chest. Her first thought was that maybe he hadn't noticed the touch, it had been brief and probably cushioned by his hair.

Then she blinked, Jaune had frozen under her hands. She looked down, the tips of his ears were completely red, she looked up, his tail wasn't wagging anymore.

_"Oh no, I broke him!"_

Then the movement resumed, a content, heavy exhale brushed her skin, the tension of his body leaving together with the released air.

Wait…

_Was that a yawn?_

Was he…?

Pyrrha let out a sigh, not quite sure if it was of relief or disappointment, but if there was one thing that she was sure about it, was that it sounded louder than she had anticipated.

Now it was as her turn to freeze. Jaune cracked his eyes open after he heard her loud sigh, blinking until his vision adjusted to the view of his blurry reflection on the gold of her neck piece. He could still feel the pressure of her hands, but no movement, why had she stopped? Why no more head pats?

"PyrrhaAa…" He called, her name sounding more like a tired whine than he would have liked, but wasn't able to avoid it coming out that way. He had been almost falling asleep, discovering that was something he really could do while enfolded by strong arms on a supporting embrace. Her familiar scent with mingles of metal and cinnamon was comforting, and her caress was feeling exceptionally fantastic today, completely relaxing him, until he felt _something_ ; a brief, soft touch that for some reason startled him out of the path to his dreams - still, it had felt really nice.

Then after that… nothing. Why? He head-butted her hands, letting out an interrogative whimper, not wanting to move away from his comfortable position on her shoulder, the residual drowsiness still making his movements slow.

"Jaune!" She sounded a bit surprised. "Were you… asleep?"

He groaned, raising his head a little. "Almost…" A yawn. "Sorry for… It was just… really good…"

She had to giggle. "It's alright." Her hands went back to combing his hair, and he leaned back on her shoulder. "I thought you were awake. You are pretty energetic for someone who wants to sleep."

He blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Your tail…" _And your gasps._ "I was just watching it…"

"Oh!" He recoiled his tail closer to his body. Pure instinct, developed after years of people sending it disapproval looks and obnoxious comments. But he soon relaxed it; he didn't need to feel this way, not here, not with her.

"Yeah… I can't really… control it very well in these situations." He laughed awkwardly; he would have scratched the back of his neck out of habit if she wasn't already doing that for him. "You know… almost sleeping and all…"

Pyrrha hummed a laugh, his cover-up about which situation he wasn't able to control his tail not going unnoticed by her. "I noticed." She scratched behind his ears, the movement accelerated. "It wags in different ways depending on the way I pet you..." She whispered more to herself than anything. "It's…" She bit her tongue before the cute escaped. Could she even say that about a faunus? "… Captivating…"

He laughed lightly. "Nobody had used this word to describe my tail before." Jaune shifted his position and pulled it closer to his body again, this time just to pluck out a speck of dust that was stuck to the tip of his fur. "I think I have to brush it again today…"

She tilted her head. "I've never seen you doing that."

"I usually do it in the bathroom, so I don't risk getting fur all over the dorm." He ran his hand through it with a fluid motion before letting go. "It's the price to pay to keep it all soft and smooth, luckily it doesn't really tangle."

He had to be tempting her - it had to be it. "It doesn't?"

"Yeah, I guess the fur is too thin for that to happen? So it only gets dusty from time to time." He thumped it against the floor. "Especially with how _clean_ this roof is."

She laughed. "Well, it really does look like you take good care of it."

"I try." He replied sheepishly. "Thank you."

They fell into a comfortable silence, the only noise being the sway of Jaune's tail against the tiles. Pyrrha couldn't take her eyes off the rhythmic movement; if she had been curious about the texture of his fur before, now after he told her about how he tended it to keep it _soft and smooth_ , the itch to verify that for herself overwhelmed her as if she was being pecked by thousands of tiny Nevermores.

"Jaune, I-" The words started to jump out of her mouth almost against her will. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry if it's inappropriate, or offensive, or invasive or just something that shouldn't be asked at all, and please tell me immediately if that's the case and if it's wrong and I-"

"Hey, hey, Pyrrha! What are you talking about?" He raised his head to look at her after her ramble. And that made him worry; Pyrrha didn't ramble, unless something was _really_ making her nervous - and Pyrrha almost _never_ got nervous.

"Sorry! It's just… Can I - again, tell me if that's an inadequate request - And I'm deeply sorry if it is, but can I… can I touch it?" Her shoulders shrunk together with her tone of voice as she said the last words.

"Touch it…?" He leaned his head to the side, still not sure of what she meant.

"I'm sorry! I don't know much about the faunus to know if asking that is inappropriate or not." Her eyes wandered, looking at everything but his face.

He made the connection, and he would be lying if he wasn't caught off guard by it. "You want to touch my tail?"

"I- Yes." She shook her head lightly, and finally looked back to him. "I'm sorry. It's weird to ask that, isn't it?"

He opened and closed his mouth like a dumbfounded fish before he remembered that words were a thing. "N-no! It's not weird! Just… just unexpected." He looked back to his tail, partially to hide a rising blush. "Nobody ever asked me for that before…"

"Oh! I understand if I shouldn't have-"

"No!" He interrupted her before she could apologize once again. "I… Y-you can touch it..."

"Really?" The hints of excitement behind her words got his wagging to speed up.

"Y-yeah! Let me just…" He moved away from her, he had been laying on her shoulder for so long, so he was a bit hesitant to separate from her comforting closeness. Stretching his body to sit up straight again, he turned to face the Beacon Tower, deciding to cross his legs over each other instead of dangling them from the edge.

Pyrrha stayed at the same spot as he changed his position, her front facing his side, so he just tilted his tail to her direction, glancing to her face quickly before looking away with a blush, giving her the permission for her to do what she had asked.

She didn't say anything, just scooted closer. Her knee touched his leg, he saw by the corner of his eyes his partner sending him one last look before shifting her attention back to his tail and raising her hand.

"Jaune?"

"Yeah?"

Her giggles filled his ears. "I can't do it if you don't stop wagging."

"Oh! Right! I didn't even…" He shook his head and released a breath. "Ok." He stiffened his back, and his tail finally went quiet.

She chuckled softly before trying one more time. Approaching her fingers to his fur, she barely made the first contact, only feeling the feathery tickles of the strands on her palm when Jaune abruptly flinched.

Pyrrha jumped back at the same split of a second. And she was surprised to hear him shout "I'm sorry!" in tandem with her.

He continued babbling though. "Sorry, Pyrrha! It was just reflex! Usually when someone touches my tail it's because they want to pull it, so I… I know you weren't going to do that but… it's just a reflex…"

His explanation made her worry. "Jaune, if it makes you uncomfortable-"

"No, no. It doesn't…" He exhaled before shrugging awkwardly. "This is kinda new for me… Besides, like, my mom brushing it when I was little, I don't really receive a lot of _caring_ touches on it… so guess I got I little jumpy..."

"But you can do it…" He glanced at her, his lips curled up in a sheepish grin, shyly moving his tail back to her direction. "I literally don't have a reason to not trust you."

Pyrrha felt her face heating up under his soft look and after his soft words. So she just smiled back to him, before quickly redirect her attention down to his tail once more.

Her fingertips finally stroked his fur, and this time his tail stood completely still.

"By the gods…" She whispered under her breath as her hand ran through it.

"W-what?" Jaune sent her a nervous glance.

"It's so _fluffy!"_ She replied, completely awed. Jaune chuckled at her tone, and the tip of his tail shook with her compliment before he quickly restrained the movement.

The thin, long strands cascaded through her fingers as if they were made of golden light. Certainly the definition of soft and smooth, and almost delicate. Yet, together they formed a heavy mass of fuzzy fur, that she knew it was strong enough to beat up someone as it wagged - according to Nora's declarations - and now thick enough for her to bury the length of her fingers on it.

"I didn't know it was possible for something to be softer than your hair…" She leaned her head into his shoulder pad, enticed by the feel of his fluffy golden fur on her palm. Actually, calling it just _golden_ was an understatement, the color was there for sure, but it was also mixed with a warm hue of caramel, and the tips were sprinkled with streaks of shining white.

 _Beautiful and cute_ ; it suited him well.

Jaune stiffened even more by feeling Pyrrha's weight on his shoulder. He was doing his best to try to keep himself from wagging, but if she kept this up, he didn't know for how much longer he would be able to do that.

The sparks caused by her tender touch through sensitive tail spiraled up his spine, spreading all over his nerves, causing every single strand of hair on his body stand up, as if an icy wind had suddenly stroked his skin. Yet, even if the rooftop breeze was chilly, her warm caress was the cause of his reaction.

"Do you... Actually like it?" He only managed to gather his words to ask after a few seconds of silence he took to dissipate the lump on his throat.

She only hummed a positive response, and he wasn't able to hold back a twitch from traveling through his tail.

Her combing suddenly stopped after that, and it was her turn to ask. "… Do _you?"_

His face flushed. "Y-yeah."

She hummed approvingly again, and resumed her pets, and this time instead of stiffening, he was able to relax, letting go of a breath he had been holding for longer than he had realized.

He was just enjoying her touch when Pyrrha shifted her weight on his shoulder a few times, as if she was testing positions; and took him only one second to realize that she was probably doing exactly that, after all, lying on the cold metal of his shoulder armor didn't seem very comfortable.

Jaune mentally cursed himself. He couldn't let that happen! Pyrrha always made sure he was comfortable while giving him pats, and when he had been the one being supported by her shoulder, it had felt so nice he had almost fallen asleep. So he had to make sure she was comfy too.

"Hey… do you want me to take this off?" He sent a glance to the piece of metal.

She only raised her head and nodded. He easily undid the straps keeping the piece of armor in place before putting it to the side.

Jaune caught the corner of a cute smile and of red spreading through her face milliseconds before she shifted to lay back on his shoulder.

Pyrrha changed her position to scoot even closer to him, her body now facing the roof's door, leaning her right arm against his own, their hands only an inch apart. Brushing lightly her cheek on the sleeve of his hoodie before settling, a soft sigh escaped as the fingers of her other hand went back to his tail.

He let out a satisfied hum with her touches, a swarm of wild butterflies filling his stomach with her proximity.

He tried to clear his mind as he relaxed, and the opposite occurred.

During all those months, there were moments of his day when Jaune would just stop and wonder why she did this, why she helped him so much.

A bunch of reasons popped on his head every single time. One of his first theories was that it could be for pity, but knowing Pyrrha that alternative was basically an absurdity.

Then he considered that it could be for obligation; he was her teammate, her partner - partners had to have each other's back all the time right? And he wouldn't be able to have her back if he couldn't even hold his sword right. That didn't explain why she would accept to pet him though.

Then he thought that she could just be one of those people that were so nice, that they weren't able to say no to someone who needed help. Being a help to survive a Huntsman Academy, or just to deal with his need for head pats.

He decided to believe in that last option. That was one of the reasons that during their firsts times he always asked her if she really, _really_ , didn't mind doing this. He didn't want to take advantage of her selflessness in any way after all.

There was one more plausible excuse thought, one that every time it crossed his mind he would shove it away as fast as he could. Because, well, it was a ridiculous, unbelievable and very unlikely reason. And it didn't matter how this one started to poke him like an annoying little kid with a stick with more frequency with each passing day.

Yet, sometimes it felt so… right, that was almost successful to make him believe that it was true several times.

And now after catching a glimpse of her cute blush and smile, having her snuggled against his shoulder, listening to her serene breathing, and to the soft sighs that escaped from her lips from time to time as she touched his tail in this such caring way… _His tail!_ A part of him that many didn't even dare to look at, or only glanced at it with pure disdain. All of that made the annoying kid and the stick be replaced by a sugar-rushed Nora and her hammer.

And the absurd, but quite simple, answer to his questions was just the fact that Pyrrha _liked him._

As in, liked-liked him. Like he liked-liked her. Actually, he already had come clear with the fact that he felt more than a cluster of _like_ towards her, and there was a possibility that she could feel the same way too?

It felt so obvious, but at the same time, he couldn't wrap his head around this idea. Why would she like him? An awkward faunus boy who was stupid enough to throw himself into a dangerous world which he knew almost nothing about. He didn't have any outstanding qualities; he wasn't confident, or smooth or cool, he had improved, yes, but he wasn't a really good fighter, he wasn't the best team leader, he didn't even know what his semblance was supposed to be and he could keep increasing this list for a long while.

So, just… _Why?_

"Why what?" A whisper against his shoulder, and he froze.

His tail shook in surprise under her hand the second he realized that his question was made aloud.

"Ahn…" He looked around frenetically, as if the lights of the stars and lighten up windows ahead would come together to spell to him an excuse to blurt out. "It's nothing!"

"Jaune…" She nudged his shoulder. "Is there something bothering you? Do you want me to stop?"

"No! And please don't…"

A quiet giggle. A skip of a beat. A second of silence.

"I… was just wondering…" He didn't know what gave him the motivation to start. "Why… you do this…?"

Her caress paused, but he didn't.

"Why… do you help me so much? I mean, I know I definitely need help… but I don't… I don't know… I- You…" He ran a hand through his hair as a nervous gesture. "Ok, let me try this again…"

"At Initiation… You basically chose me to be your partner…" He chuckled. "I mean, you did throw a spear at me."

"I'm sorry?" He caught the smile on her words.

"No, you're not." He felt her stir in a way that could be a nod or a laugh. "And… I couldn't understand why you would do that… I guess there was no way you could know that I sucked at that time, still… I'm… I'm a faunus… and most people aren't really excited to be partners with one… I think you remember how Weiss acted around me in the locker room before we went to the forest."

"Jaune, that's-" Pyrrha raised her head from his shoulder, and he knew she was frowning from her tone of voice.

"Wait! Let me finish…" He felt her hesitate before she leaned back on him. "I know you, and Ren and Nora don't care that I have a tail. But I was still surprised! I mean, you're from Mistral, right? I grew up with people whispering how there was the worst place a faunus could live. How our species were treated, how places prohibited our entrance… If it was bad here, Mistral was insufferable."

"So when I got to know you… You were so nice, and kind, and-" His face flushed, better hold himself back from dumping a list of compliments. "And I couldn't help but ask myself why! Why you didn't think my tail was weird? Why you were offering to help me even after I was a jerk to you? Why do you believe in me so much? Why… do you… like me…?" His tone of voice dwindled as he finished his questions, leaving her to interpret the like as she wanted.

It took her a few seconds to realize that he was done, and a bit more for her to gather words for her reply.

"The day we met at the locker room… You saw how Weiss was talking about me, how she had a listing of my accomplishments ready to throw at you…" She went back to combing his tail as she started talking, doing so had almost a calming effect over her. "She, of course, wasn't the only one that knew about those. And she wasn't the first person, neither the last, to mention them that day.

"The only person who I talked to who didn't even know my name was actually you." She smiled at the memory. "And when I realized that I felt so… happy and relieved. And then I was pulling you out from being pinned on a tree. For some reason, I knew you would be an amazing partner and friend."

"I wasn't wrong. It was like a breath of fresh air from all those people who just look at me and see an untouchable record of tournament wins." She let out a quiet sigh. "So when I noticed you needed help, I had no reason to not offer it to you... Even if took a while for you to accept it."

She felt Jaune flinch slightly, getting her to decide that this was a good moment to place her free hand over his - his tail jumped right after the contact. "And I know… I know that there are people like Cardin at every corner, and Mistral is definitely full of them…"

"When I was little I didn't even understand the reason for all that conflict, and as I grew up, my father always taught to be kind and my mother always spoke to me about equality." She shook her head. "More about equality on the battlefield, but guess it also suited for out of it as well."

"So I don't care if you have a tail or not, being a faunus or human does not define who you are as a person!" Her tone raised in intensity and the grip she had on his hand got stronger unintentionally.

"And you…" She relaxed, her last words coming out with a bit more of a feeling than she had intended. "You're such an amazing person. A great partner, friend, leader… and I know you struggle to believe that from time to time... And that it can be frustrating…"

"I know that coming up here to revise the same move for hours, to fall and get up over and over again; can feel like so much effort to progress such a small amount." She gave his hand a gentle squeeze. "But look back! You've already come so far. You've grown so much since we started training... And we are only on our first year, just the beginning."

"That's why I believe in you so much. I've never met someone so determined to better themselves..." She let the smile overcome her expression, her next words came out full of nothing but sincerity. "I'm so proud of you."

She took a deep breath, exhaling it softly before raising her head from his shoulder, his hand twitched under hers as soon as the distance was put between the two of them. "I like you… simply because of who you are."

"And I help you…" She looked at his direction, his face was downcast, and his messy bangs shadowed his expression. "… Simply because I'm just happy to be a part of your life..."

She withdrew her hand from his, his head shot up at the same second and she took the opportunity to place it gently on his cheek, turning his gaze to her direction.

"I'll always be here for you, Jaune."

Something wet grazed her thumb. His quivering pout and knitted-together eyebrows were the details she noticed next.

Her heart dropped. "Jaune! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry! I'm sorry!" In a blink of an eye, both of her hands were on his cheeks, wiping as gentle as she could the tears that had silently started to trail down his face.

He released a puff of air that turned into a chuckle. "Pyr-rha…" His voice cracked, the laugh morphed into a sob.

She didn't hesitate; pulling him closer immediately, wrapping her hands around his neck, letting him rest on her shoulder. Pyrrha only knew that he had let his tears fall freely by the wetness in her skin, Jaune cried without producing almost no sound, his silence only rarely broken by a few small sharp breaths.

She couldn't help but wonder if it was always like that for him, or if it was a skill he had developed over the years.

He inhaled a large amount of air, letting it free slowly, and his breathing soon steadied. "Thank you..." The cracked words were pressed on her shoulder. "Thank you." He repeated after raising his head a bit, firmer this time, a faint trace of a smile present on the sentence.

"I wasn't expecting all of that..." He let out a weak chuckle as she ruffled the back of his head. "That was… Nobody had _ever_ said something like that to me before…"

He raised his head fully to finally look directly at her eyes. His own were still a little puffy from crying, his cheeks still marked by a few shiny trails. He dried one side off with the back of his glove, and she took upon herself to do the same with the other cheek. "I meant every single word."

He closed his eyes after his face was dry. He had grown up hearing so much discredit and _hate_ , her words had been a screeching contrast to them, he had never felt so encouraged and _loved_.

He leaned into her hand; her thumb gently caressed his skin. He fluttered his eyes open, finally able to take in how close they were to each other, he could count her eyelashes and feel her breath over his. The expression he found on her flustered face made his breathing, heartbeat, and tail to compete for who could go faster. Yet, at the same time, he had never felt so at ease.

"Pyrrha…" Her name flowed out of his tongue as if it was a sacred word. "I- I…" He moved forward by a fraction of an inch, his nose brushed hers just barely in a ghost of a touch. Still, the feathery contact made her mouth open in a silent gasp.

His confession hung at the edge of his lips, and it was just about to come out when he was abruptly interrupted.

By a repeatedly loud vibration of several notifications arriving on a Scroll.

They both jumped apart immediately, his tail sprung up and he almost fell backward with the startle.

The buzzing continued, he cleared his throat awkwardly, suddenly very self-conscious about _everything_.

"I-it's mine." Pyrrha placed her hand over the pouches on her belt, proving that indeed the noise was coming from there.

She quickly retrieved the rowdy device, ignoring the slight shake of her hands.

"Nora?"

"Yes."

He nodded to himself, muttering an "Of course." under his breath. After all, their teammate's texting style was very distinguishable.

Because she didn't believe in sending only one message with all the information she needed to convey. Sending a bunch of them to trigger thousands of notifications apparently was way for effective in her opinion.

\- Heeey Pyrrhaaaaaa

\- !!!!

\- Ren and I r back

\- We are going to the kitchen

\- To prepare for our super special!

\- Ultra awesome!!

\- Commemorative!!!!

\- Pancake night!!!!!!!

\- And don't tell Jaune yet

\- It's a surprise!!!

\- But we found some sprinkles!!!

\- And they r STAR SHAPED!!!!

\- Really cute! <333

\- So get ur lazy butts down here

\- I bet u guys aren't """training"""

\- So no delays accepted

\- Unlessssss

\- U are FINALLY making out with him

\- Then I guess u could stay a little longer

\- And cuz I'm a good friend <3

\- I'll try to spare some sprinkles for u 2

\- No promise about the syrup tho

Her next series of messages was a combination of emojis, laughs and key-smashes.

\- Seriously tho hurry up Ren won't let me start without u guys here

Pyrrha ran her tongue over her dry lips before clearing her throat. "She wants us to go down to the kitchen." Her face felt excruciating hot, especially with the fact that if it wasn't for Nora's messages, there was a huge chance that they would be doing exactly what their teammate had suggested on the last ones. "They are already waiting for us there."

"Oh!" Jaune dared to glance at his partner direction, just to quickly change his mind when noticing that they were still sitting very close to each other. "Well… We shouldn't keep them waiting, right?"

"Right." She put her Scroll away, tapping her nails a few times on the floor tile as a nervous gesture, before having the courage to look to her side.

Jaune was staring at his legs as he waved them over the edge, his hands tucked over his tights as he fidgeted with the leather of his gloves, his tail apparently unsure about moving or staying still, the blush completely taking over his face.

 _Cute_ was the only word that popped on her mind.

Something about seeing him like that made an intruding smirk rise to her lips. So, suddenly receiving a jolt of bravery, she inclined forward, swiftly pecking her partner's flustered cheek, before getting up with the fastest motion she could muster.

She heard a squeak and his tail heavily pounding against the ground behind her back. "Let's go before we end up without syrup… Again."

She already had her hand on the doorknob when he finally moved. "W-wait for me!"

She could wait.

* * *

The walk to the kitchen had everything to be awkward.

Yet, it wasn't.

There was a silence all right, and exchange of glances that were soon diverted, and rising blushes, and of shakes of tail, and of brushing strands behind ears, and all of those tasty ingredients for an awkward pancake.

Still, this silence felt comfortable, as if it was more prone to be broken by a fit of giggles coming from both of them than to hang heavily like a storm cloud over their heads.

Then, they rounded a corner to the last corridor before the destination, as soon as they took a step, the air got colder and the silence poked them like shards of ice.

Emerging from the opposite end of the corridor, exactly at the same time as the duo, was a very angry Cardin Winchester.

He was still wearing his uniform, and aside from the kitchen, this specific hall only connected with the entrance lobby. And if he was just arriving from the school's building at this hour of the night, with that expression on his face...

The second Jaune's stare clashed with the one of his bully, his tail almost flinched out of habit, he almost stopped walking, he almost took a step back.

Yet, he didn't.

Pyrrha had slipped her hand on his the second the other boy appeared in front of them, giving him her usual support, telling him that he was _not alone_. So he kept moving forward.

Cardin did the same; his scowl seemed sculpted on stone. But Jaune kept his gaze firm ahead, the sound of his solid steps taking over the hall.

The bully kept walking straight to them, as if he was ready to confront him or just run over them like a truck.

But Jaune was stubborn, he straightened his eyes, almost _daring_ the other boy to even lift a finger or open his mouth.

So his surprise was very much justified when instead of the words of scorn or shoves to the side, Cardin lowered his gaze, a frown still engraved on his expression, stepped to the side and just kept walking, giving the partners free space to cross through the hall, and soon disappeared on the staircase Jaune and Pyrrha had just went down.

Jaune's mouth hung open as soon as the other boy was out of sight, unable to produce any sounds whatsoever out of sheer perplexity.

Pyrrha looked behind her for a second, her eyes full of surprise, she looked back to her partner and his completely baffled expression, so yes, whatever just happened was real.

And whatever the Professor had done or said to Cardin had apparently been very effective this time.

She felt the relief rising up her chest, and she didn't hold herself back from giggling.

Jaune looked at her, and dumbfounded, pointed back to the staircase. She just squeezed his hand in response.

He shook his head, she rolled her eyes and made the effort to tug him in the direction of the kitchen. He finally started walking, and when the sounds that came from there arrived at their ears, they knew that they couldn't be produced by only their teammates.

His tail started to wag and he sped up the second they heard Ren's voice being muffled by Nora's shout mixed with team RWBY's laughs.

His friends were there for him.

* * *

 

The spear came right to his face.

"The weakest points of a Deathstalker?"

He jumped to the side, sword blocking the advance.

"The point between its tail and stinger!"

She raised an eyebrow, and her weapon.

"… And it's eyes!"

A satisfied smile, because of the correct answer and his successful block.

"The Grimm species native from Anima's Lake Matsu?"

A step forward, a slash with the sword.

"Ahn… those giant bee things!"

His reply was not as confident as his last movement.

"Bees?"

She twirled out of the range of his sword.

"Wasps? Lancers!"

A loud clash of metal.

"The name of Mantle's king when the first war began and the action he took that is considered the reason for the beginning of the conflict?"

Repeatedly swings of spear pushed him back.

"Wow! Weren't we talking about Grimm? What's up with the change?"

Another slash.

"What's up with your stance?"

A step to the side, a correction of posture, a raise of an arm.

"Better?"

A block.

"Jaune, the answer…?"

A dodge.

"Aaaah… I don't- it's on the tip of my tongue!"

A confident advance, a step back.

"Wait! Does his name start with an E?"

He raised his sword right at the last moment, the weapons met with sparks.

"No? An F?"

He focused to maintain his ground as they got face to face.

"Frederick? Ferdinand? Funderburker?"

The curl of her lips was reflected on the metal of his sword.

"You're just making those up!"

_Don't down look at them. I know she's close but don't look down at them._

"Ahn… I- I don't-"

_He was weak._

He had a privileged view of her smile growing.

Pyrrha pushed him, _hard_ , he stumbled back and kept going. He had got distracted, his stance had lost its base, his tail waved in a last attempt at recover - too late.

"Jaune!"

Her call filled his ears as the back of his sneakers hit something and he lost his footing completely.

Black aura suddenly engulfed his armor, his body was roughly yanked forward to her direction, and spun around her as she placed him on the middle of the roof, away from the edge.

Pyrrha had just saved him from dropping from the top of the building. The hold of her semblance faded as soon as he was safe, he stumbled with the shift of balance after the dizzying trip.

Then he fell graciously on his butt.

"Jaune! I'm sorry!"

He shook his head and blinked hard to get back on his senses.

"Is that how the entrance exams were like?" He let out a chuckle. "People shouting questions as you fight?"

Her concerned expression softened. "No, but we don't know how yours is going to be." Pyrrha diverted her gaze, only to look back to him with an apologetic smile. "And I thought that would be good to work your reflexes."

"Taking the almost falling out of the roof part, it was actually pretty fun." He shrugged before looking back up to her - it had been a while since the last time he almost fell out of the edge, it was terrifying, still, it reminded him of his first training sessions. "Thanks…"

She approached him, putting her spear away. "I wouldn't let you fall."

His tail wagged lightly at her words. He knew that well.

Pyrrha soon crouched in front of him, offering the usual assistance for him to get up. "Are you ok though?"

He blinked again, realizing that he hadn't made a single effort to get up yet. And that he was staring. Those same lips that had made him lose all his concentration before now curled in a playful smile.

"Y-yeah." He grasped her hand, her vibrant red hair really contrasted beautifully against the dark blue night sky... "I guess you could say I just fell for you."

During Pyrrha's successful career, she had faced countless opponents in a plethora of matches at diverse tournaments. She would come out victorious, not falling a single time, and that's how she received the title of Invincible Girl.

Who would have guessed that a silly pick-up line would be a reason for her knees to go weak and cause her downfall? So when Jaune tried to pull himself up after he held her hand, she fell too.

He yelped as her weight crushed his leg, the metal of her armor digging through his jeans to his skin.

Pyrrha retracted her hands closer to her chest, ready to launch a series of flustered apologies, but her mouth wasn't able to produce any sounds, only move with the beginning of unspoken words.

_He had just flirted with her!_

Jaune froze after the wave of pain passed. Why had he done that? He was such an idiot! Now she was on top of him, looking absolutely mortified! Her face was almost matching the color of her hair. Wait… Why was she blushing? Stupid, of course she was! She was probably embarrassed. This wasn't good.

Their eyes met, both wide with astonishment. His tail shuddered and his skin tingled as if his whole body was blushing. He opened his mouth, and his "I'm sorry!" synchronized with hers.

"Jaune! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I don't even know! I-" Pyrrha fumbled with her position, trying to find a way to get up.

"It's not- Ouch! Pyrrha! My leg!" The metal scraped his thigh as she moved.

"I'm sorry!" She stopped squirming.

"No! Ow, let me…" He instinctively plopped his hands on her waist, pulling her to a position that he believed it would be more comfortable for both of them.

He let out a breath as he shifted her weight, but his relief was very short lived and abruptly shattered when he heard her squeak cutely.

So now she was sitting on his lap. Why had he done that?! She wanted to get up, not get comfortable! He was sure she could feel the heat emanating from his face - it was burning! He jerked his hands away from her, raising them up in surrender. "I- I don't know why I did that!"

The concept of coherent thoughts and words waved Pyrrha goodbye as she watched her partner fumble with his actions. So now she only had one thing left to do.

She started to laugh.

Nervous giggles converted into joyful laughter as she covered her red face. "I'm- I'm sorry!"

"Pyrrhaaa…" Jaune whined her name embarrassedly, but he wasn't immune to the contagious sound, the last stretched syllable quivering with the beginning of a smile.

She only shook her head, still laughing, and he had to join her - this situation was ridiculous.

"Aaaah... Sorry!" Her habit of apologizing a lot was probably starting to rub off on him. "All of that…" He winced in the middle of his chuckles. "… Was actually really bad."

She peeked between her fingers, her words mixed with giggles. "It wasn't that bad."

He sent her a look. "I almost fell off the roof, Pyrrha." He intentionally didn't mention the flirting part. "I would judge that as bad."

She rolled her eyes, still feeling a tad flustered, but the awkwardness was completely gone. "Come on… It was a bit more intense than our regular training. You did well!"

She ruffled his hair out of habit as an appraising gesture, his tail gladly thumped on the floor. He closed his eyes and his head instinctively pressed against her hand as it made a mess of his strands.

"Oh!" The smirk appeared on her face as she noticed his reaction. "Do you want to take a break already?"

His tail wagged faster. Would she pet him here? Now? While she was on his lap? He sent her a look through his bangs, she didn't seem bothered in any way, her cheeks were just a little rosier than normal.

He lowered his head quickly as he felt his own face heating up - again - and just hummed in response, not exactly a sound of agreement, but not denial either... If she really didn't mind…

"I'll take that as a yes." His heart did a double jump. He kept his gaze fixed on a spot on the ground, his breathing accelerated together with the movement of his tail as her hand slid down to the back of his head.

Her touch paused after a few seconds though, and she hesitantly shifted on his lap. "Do you… want me to move or can I…?"

He shot his head up, the position was just as new for her as it was for him after all, and she probably was wondering if _he_ didn't mind. "I… I d-don't mind if you want to stay…"

She nodded lightly at him, resuming to combing his strands. Jaune soon relaxed under her soothing touch, letting his tail wag freely, it was amazing as always. Still… His brow furrowed, something was missing... Or better, something had to be missing, but it was there.

"Pyrrha…" He called her under his breath, almost a whimper. He leaned his head to the side, pressuring her palm. "… Gloves?"

She let out a giggle and, felling a strange urge to do so, poked him on the nose, causing his tail to flutter. "You're getting spoiled."

"Your fault." He huffed a laugh. "You're the one getting really good at this." Jaune peeked through his bangs and unconsciously started to fumble with his fingers. "… Please?"

Pyrrha stopped and stared at him, her words coming out barely as a whisper. "I can't say no to a face like that…" It's not like she was planning to deny, but something about his look full of hope made almost impossible for that outcome.

Then he beamed at her, his tail swishing joyfully, and she had to admit, he really looked like a happy puppy.

Pyrrha took her hands off his hair, quickly focusing on her gloves, and taking this time to try to normalize the color of her face.

Jaune kept his eyes on the floor as he waited, following the path of a crack on the tiles, suddenly getting very self-conscious about how his partner was sitting on his lap for real. Yeah, she was really close, and he was doing his best to not stare - Mom raised a gentleman!

He jumped a little when he felt the pressure of her hands back to his hair. Her nails scratched behind his ears and he let out a content sigh as his shoulders dropped.

She ran her fingers through his smooth strands, watching closely his expression softening. The wrinkles of his forehead disappearing, his pink cheeks lifting to his closed eyes, his lips curling in a charming grin full of bliss.

She had to use every single ounce of self control to prevent her fingers to moving on it's own accord, to trail down his face all the way to his smile, to run her thumb over it, to part his lips, so she could do what she had been prevented from doing the day prior, to claim them between her own.

She almost didn't notice that while she tried to not do that, her hands had completely stopped moving.

Pyrrha only snapped out of her moment of distraction when she saw the blur of his tail coming to focus as it slowed down. Then she caught a speck of blue, Jaune peeked at her through one eye, tilting his head in a question - why had she stopped?

She breathed out a chuckle at his adorable expression, and quickly moved her hands again, ruffling the top of his hair, eliciting a small laugh from his part too.

She had to admit that watching his reactions so closely was really something else. And if last night she had been taking notice of his tail…

_"Hm… Maybe if I…"_

Pyrrha mussed with his strands, letting them cover her fingers. Jaune let out a happy hum, the sound almost made her give up on her plan, but she found the will to keep going, so with a swift movement, she moved her hands away from him.

His tail stopped at the same second, his brow furrowed slightly in confusion, and a cute, tiny pout appeared on his lips - and oh no… now she wanted to kiss it even more. She didn't give him the opportunity to open his eyes, or he would have caught her face absolutely on fire, digging her fingers back on his hair as fast as she could.

He relaxed and his tail picked up the pace once again.

Patting him while they were face to face and while they were this close was really something else.

Yet, she found herself repeating the process. And this time when she retrieved her hands, he only raised an eyebrow, right after the wagging stopped, cracking his eyes open just slightly. Unfortunately for her, by doing so he caught the grin she had been trying to suppress.

Jaune let out a tiny huff and straightened his eyes at her suspiciously; it took an extra second for him to shut them again after her hands went back to his blond mess.

She bit her lip to hold back from giggling. His tail was now twitching slightly as it moved - he was on alert. Yet, it only took a scratch behind his ears for it go back to its regular faster pace.

At that exact moment, she messed his hair quickly and moved her hands away again.

But Jaune had caught on what she was doing.

"Pyrrha!" He moved his head forward together with her fleeing hands, preventing the separation. "Don't be mean!"

Pyrrha laughed freely at his plea. "I'm sorry!" She kept moving her hands back almost unconsciously, and he let out an exasperated huff, the puff of air tickled her cheek.

"It doesn't sound like you are." Her hands were still far! And Pyrrha had been messing with him! So in an attempt to reach them again, he placed his own hands back on her waist to propel himself upwards - and by extent, pull her closer - hers stayed up in the air now more out of surprise than anything now.

He still couldn't reach them! How could she? He let out an annoyed whimper - it came out softer than he had intended. Since moving forward was giving him no results, he turned his head slightly to the side, poking her cheek with his nose.

He heard her gasp, his tail thumped playfully against the ground at the sound - so two could play this game - and he did it again.

"Pyrrhaaa…" His next touch was rewarded with a light chuckle, so he kept going. "What were you doing?"

"I-" His nose grazed her jaw, and she couldn't control herself anymore.

She burst out laughing, squirming under his tickles, her hands fell into the nearest surface, which was his hair, much for his contentment.

He let out a satisfied, almost smug huff, his tail wagged victoriously and making sure her hands were still there, he finally put some space between the two of them.

Jaune only took notice of how fast his heart was beating and how warm his skin had gotten when the distance he was able to create wasn't much more than a few inches. Since when he had gotten so close?

This time he didn't feel the necessity of being awkward or to freeze up though. His tail waved joyfully as he watched her laughter subside; it was such a wonderful sound, he almost didn't want it to end.

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha managed to say in the middle of her final giggles, releasing a breath before finally letting them cease. "I was just…" She looked back at him, only to immediately divert her gaze because of the way he was staring at her, her cheeks flushed instantly.

What had she been doing again?

She raised her head, her fingers had started to move without her knowing, he had a pleased smile on his face because of her light caress, and The Look was still there; the only way she could describe it would be _full of affection,_ it made her tongue go tied.

Then Jaune tilted his head cutely to the side, waiting for her to continue speaking.

And she did, but what came out wasn't the explanation that she was just watching his reactions.

Her hands stopped by the sides of his head, she stared right at his eyes and the words fell. "How can you be _so adorable?"_

Those same eyes widened like dinner plates, his light pink flush evolved into a bright red blush that reached the tip of his ears, and the fur on his tail stood up with surprise, exactly at the same second the words left her mouth.

"P-Pyrrha!" He looked away from her, quickly turning his head to the side, and ended up burying his face on her palm in an attempt to hide his flustering - she could feel how warm his skin was.

All of that was what made her realize that that was definitely not what she had planned to say.

"Jaune! I- That wasn't what I… I'm sorry!" She was sure her own face was matching his colors.

"N-no! Don't- I…" He let go of a breath, still not looking directly at her, his tail had gone back to waving lightly though. "I- I mean…" He finally forced his eyes to meet hers, moving his head a bit, he leaned his cheek on her palm so his words could come out clearer, a shy grin found its way to his lips. "D-do you really think so?"

Next thing she knew she was moving a hand to the top of his head, shoving to the side his stupidly cute face with his stupidly cute smile, because if she had to look directly at it for one more second she probably wasn't going to survive for next day. Her other hand went to cover her own burning face. "Gods, Jaune!"

He dared to laugh. Then he abruptly stopped. "Wait… you're serious…"

She managed to peek at his direction. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"W-well… Usually, when people say stuff like that to me, it's like… _Hey! A dog faunus! How adorable!"_ He mimicked a voice. "But I know you wouldn't say it like that."

"Y-yes, I…" Pyrrha slowly turned back to him fully, restoring their previous position; her hands were drawn to his hair out of habit. She chuckled. "I actually always wondered if it would be alright to say things like that to you…"

"Always wondered?" Jaune leaned into her hand as her fingers ran behind his ear, the smirk leaking into his words.

She paused. "Don't let it get over your head." In a quick movement upwards, Pyrrha messed with his bangs, causing them to fall over his eyes.

"I'll try." Jaune laughed, then he quickly added before he lost the courage to do so. "But it's gonna be pretty hard considering it's a compliment coming from the prettiest girl I know."

Her heart skipped a beat and words slipped from her grasp. "I… wha-?"

He chuckled lightly, raising a hand to the back of his head embarrassedly. "I don't know why you're so surprised."

 _Why?! He was openly flirting with her!_ Of course, she knew well by the way he acted that he had to like her more than just a friend and partner - she was sitting on his lap for crying aloud! Still, witnessing him saying silly pick-up up lines in that clear and blunt manner made her mind go blank.

"N-no. I'm…" She attempted speaking, her face locked in a lovely shade of pink, and Jaune had to admit, now she was the one who looked adorable. "I mean…" Pyrrha smiled at him, bordering a knowing smirk, her eyes glinting playfully. "Do you really think so?"

Jaune stopped, his tail was the only part of his body that continued to work properly, wagging like there was no tomorrow, he could hear loud and clear his frenetic heartbeat pounding on his ears. "Is… Is t-this some kind of payback?"

"Maybe…" The word intertwined with a giggle. She ruffled his hair and he let his head be lowered, partially to hide his blush.

Since when did their breaks had evolved from just sit by his partner side, and lock his gaze on the horizon as her fingers combed through his hair almost hesitantly, to laying on her lap, or leaning on each other's shoulders, or her sitting on his lap, all the while her fingers following a path confidently, knowing exactly what he enjoyed the most?

Since when has brushing his nose on her cheek been a common gesture between them? Since when did he knew she wouldn't flinch away in shock if he did that, but instead lean into his touch with a melodious giggle?

Since when having his arms around her waist felt so natural? Since when did they flirt with each other? Since when did her touch had become something so intimate?

_Since when had she felt the same?_

"Pyrrha…" He shyly looked back up to her, her hands slipping to his nape as he did so, and that only made him more self-conscious about their position - her arms around his neck and his own hugging her waist - he could end the distance between them with the softest of pulls. "How long… has _this_ … been happening…?"

Her eyes lightened up in realization, he didn't specify what the _this_ was about, yet only taking his tone of voice and the sheepishly look on his eyes into consideration, she knew. "A while…" The reply came out as a sigh.

"O-oh." His tail perked up, his fingers tapped against her back pensively. There was a slight tremble on his lips as he fought an intruding smile from splitting his face before he continued. "A long while or a short while?"

"I…" She drifted as she gathered her thoughts; he leaned into her palm to indicate that he was listening. "For me… I'm almost sure since when we started coming up here to train…" She admitted, feeling surprisingly light after the words left her mouth. Then she let out a tiny chuckle before looking back up to him, followed by a scratch behind his ears. "So, a good while."

He stiffened, his tail dropped at the same second, though it continued to wag. "Y-you're kidding? Right?"

Pyrrha opened her mouth to question him and he shook his head, continuing before she could say a thing. "Pyrrha! A-all this time… I… We both… I can't believe it!" A few dry laughs escaped out of pure disbelief.

"… Both?" Her expression copied his shocked one. "Wait... You mean… you too? Since back then?"

He nodded, his tail went back to wagging. "Y-yeah!" He lifted his eyes to the sky, letting go of a heavy breath. "I can't believe it… I've l-liked you during all those months… And you..." Fluttering butterflies left trails of tingles through her skin as his confession filled her ears. "I could have done something… Said something… I'm… such an idiot."

"Jaune… Don't blame yourself." She still scolded him, dragging her fingers to the back of his head, so she could guide his gaze back to her. "After all I… I liked you all this time too… I could have done something earlier…" She let out a short chuckle. "We both were… a bit clueless."

"A bit? I can't believe we didn't notice!" He laughed, still dumbfounded, his head pended forward when he tried to suppress it and he accidentally rested his forehead on hers; he had no intention of moving away though, it was a nice view. "I can't believe _you_ didn't notice!"

"I'm sorry!" She squeezed her eyes shut, joining him on his laughs. "Sometimes I suspected… but I wasn't actually sure… Until... pretty much yesterday, I think."

"Really?" Jaune spoke with genuine surprise. "Pyrrha, I can't even… I can't even control my tail when I'm with you! And I know it's not exactly subtle…"

She stopped, her eyes widened as the realization dawned on her. "I can't believe Nora was right…" Pyrrha whispered almost only to herself.

"What do you mean?" He tilted his head to the side, the blonde strands of his bangs mixed with her crimson ones.

"She kept telling me non-stop about how she would bet that you... liked me back..." She looked down quickly as the last words left her mouth; they still felt too good to be true. "And one of her favorite arguments was how your tail wagged around me. She really was adamant about… _us_."

Jaune let out an amused snort, she raised her gaze at the sound. "How ironic! Because if it wasn't for her messages yesterday I totally would have… Erh…" He stopped, suddenly feeling hyper-aware of what words were about to jump out of his babbling mouth. "… Done something earlier… Not that just one day earlier is the greatest of difference in the world and all but you get what I me-"

He had started to ramble again, and what made him come to a halt was the feeling of her fingers slipping from his hair, creating a trail through his jawline until it arrived on his chin, where she stopped, lightly guiding his head up until their eyes met. His breathing also came into a momentary halt when their noses touched.

"Well…" She started just below a whisper, the breath of her words brushed his lips. "There's nothing stopping us from picking up from where we left off now…"

His gaze immediately dropped from her mesmerizing eyes to her inviting lips. He could feel his quickened pulse through his whole body, the wag of his tail was so fast that he believed he wouldn't be able to make it stop.

Neither of them could tell the exact moment when and who closed the final distance between them.

Jaune was soft. Pyrrha knew that already, he had soft hair, soft smiles, soft looks, soft hugs, soft tail, so she was more than thrilled to be finally able to find out that his lips were no exception.

She hadn't realized how nervous she had been felling before until the gentle pressure on her lips made her melt, the touch sending a wave of warmth from her heart to the very extremes of her body - it was simple, tender and incredibly satisfying, like getting under comforters after a long cold day. He tasted like the chocolate chips they had _sneakily_ snagged from Ren's stash - more like asking him politely while he cooked - before they came to train, and the sweetness only made everything better.

They slowly parted after the short, experimental kiss, feeling as if they moved too fast the moment would be shattered. The sound of his tail filled her ears, with her eyes closed, she could only imagine the sped of its wag.

A light chuckle caused her to slight open them, His eyes shined, full of wonder, flickering through her face as if he couldn't believe what had just happened. She let out a soft laugh too, her hands soon slipped to his messy hair before she gently poked the side of his nose with her own, and he took that as a sign to lean in again.

So he did, a warm kiss that was soon broken because Jaune couldn't control the growing smile on his lips. He tried again, but now Pyrrha was the one who was smiling. Then they were exchanging feathery kisses, giggling like little kids who had just exchanged secrets, and neither had complaints about the situation.

It took a few more seconds, and a few clashes of teeth, for them to stop smiling like idiots, and he was finally able to kiss her fully.

She made a sound against his lips as he pulled her closer to his chest, his arms completely circling her waist, the curves of her body pressed against his palms, any traces of distance between them now almost inexistent.

He was pretty sure she could feel the movement of his tail as it whipped against the air with their proximity, especially after her hands moved upwards, nails digging into his hair as they followed a path to the top of his scalp. Jolts of electricity spiked through his whole body with each movement of her fingers - and of her lips, they tasted like cherries.

Pyrrha's hands didn't stay in one place for long. Her touch lowered from his hair, gently tugging the strands on the back of his neck before sliding lower. For a few seconds, her fingertips burned against the bare skin of his nape before it trailed down through his back, dodging his armor until her hands stopped on the center of his spine.

Jaune didn't have the mind to question her straying touch, being hard to do so while she nibbled on his lip, but then she stretched her fingers forward, the tips lightly brushing against his tail as it wagged, it jolted in surprise, and the movement unconsciously stopped.

Next thing he felt was her fingers running through his fur, he was powerless to contain the gasp from escaping. Pyrrha saw that as an opportunity, and he jumped in shock to the feeling of her tongue over his lips.

Her touch reached the end of his tail, she let it go to get back to his hair promptly, the frenetic movement resumed immediately, and he lost himself completely to her lips all over again.

They lost track of how much time had passed, still, the inevitable need to breath gave them a hint of how long it had been, and they finally parted. Foreheads touching for support, their heavy breathing mixing in the small distance between their faces.

Jaune cracked his eyes open. The view of his partner cute flustered cheeks and her pink lips, now with the color not being provided by her lipstick, were the confirmation that he hadn't dreamed all of that.

What made almost impossible for him to recover his breath though, was the view he had of her enchanting eyes - the green going as deep as an untouched forest, being dotted with tiny golden fireflies that you could only discern if you got really close - now bearing a look he knew very well.

He saw the same look on himself in the mirror as he tried to get his hair back to its place after their breaks. Recalling the sensation of her fingers going through it oh so gently, remembering the glances, words or contact that had made him really want to believe that maybe there could be more between them.

It was the look that appeared on his own face with the thought of how much he loved her.

Strangely, the view also came with an intriguing sensation of familiarity, as if he had already seen it on her face before.

Jaune let out an amused laugh, mentally slapping himself for his obliviousness - _of course he had._

"What is it?" Pyrrha poked his nose with hers, letting out a small laugh of her own at his expression - full of genuine happiness and amazement, as if everything was too good to be true.

"Oh!" He tilted his head at her touch, his tail swaying playfully. "I was just thinking…" Jaune instinctively leaned back a little, just to place a quick kiss on the tip of the nose that had just nuzzled him. Her blush intensified, her eyes glimmering at his delicate gesture of affection. If she was a faunus like him, he would bet that her tail would be wagging just as fast as his. "… I think I just found a way to repay you."

Pyrrha managed to speak up after a few flustered noises. "Jaune, you don't need to feel like you owe me anything..."

"I know. It's just…" He moved his head until he was leaning into her hand. "I really like when you pet me... So I thought that while you do that… I could… do something for you to…? Something that you like…" His tone of voice lowered together with his gaze as he shyly finished his suggestion. "I mean… it looked like you liked it, so... I thought it would be a good idea… "

"Ah! Yes!" Her excited tone of voice caused him to perk up again; her lips covered his own with a small soft kiss as soon as his head raised. "That sounds grand!"

"And... just so you know," He grinned and his tail stood up joyfully infected by her enthusiasm. "I wouldn't be doing that just because I want to repay you..." He reattributed her kiss with one of his own, she giggled against his lips. "It's been a while since just wagging my tail hasn't been enough to demonstrate how much I love you."

The gasp, the look on her vibrant eyes, and the way her fingers curled around his strands made him realize exactly which words had slipped out of his mouth.

He wasn't able to even react, her smiling lips came crashing into his, he had to take his hands off her waist to prop them on the floor so he wouldn't fall on his back. "I love you too." Her laugh tickled his skin, her hands glided across his hair to scratch him behind the ears. "I've wanted to say this for a while now."

He let out a breathy laugh and promptly kissed her back, feeling her hands making an even bigger mess of his hair, letting his actions speak for him, because he was sure that if he tried to express himself with words now, it wasn't going to be really efficient.

It took a while for one of them to speak again.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha called him between her short breaths; he halted the trail of tiny kisses he had been drawing across her chin.

"Hm?"

"It's almost curfew..." She motioned her head to the side, the lights coming from the windows of the other buildings quickly flickering off. Pyrrha chuckled lightly. "I think we may have lost track of the time a little."

"A little…?" He repeated, shooting his head up, a grin finding its way to his expression. During all those months of training sessions, they had always left the roof way before the first signs of curfew, so _a little_ wasn't exactly the best way to describe the situation

Pyrrha shrugged her shoulders, biting her lip to contain her smirk. "I think our breaks are going to get a bit longer if we continue like this…" Her expression turned serious. "… But we can't forget that we have to train for your test."

"Oh, right. That." Jaune rubbed the back of his neck embarrassedly. "We can… set an alarm?"

"That can work." She laughed. "Still, I think... We should keep our breaks shorter. The end of the semester will be here soon and we need all the time we can get."

He whimpered, lowering his head into her palm, more to be dramatic than for actual protest against her suggestion. Noticing his act, his partner just rolled her eyes.

"And I'm saying that because, well… We don't necessarily need to be up here to do the things we do in our breaks anymore." He moved his face, his eyes locked on hers immediately, shining in expectation; his gaze made her flush instantly. "I mean… If you don't mind the chance of the others seeing us, I can pet you anytime, even on the days we don't come here to train…"

"Really?!" He breathed out. She could swear there were actual stars on the dark blue sky of his eyes.

"Hmhm." She hummed an agreement. Idly picking the tips of the stands on the back of his neck, she diverted her gaze for a moment to gather the courage to suggest one more thing. "And... maybe we can… if you want… cuddle sometimes...?" Her face tingled with her blush. "… Yesterday… was nice."

There was a second of silence before he whispered. "Pyrrha…" She looked back to him. Jaune was vibrating with excitement, his tail nothing less than a golden blur - she couldn't help but compare him to a happy puppy once again. "Can we do that right now?"

She let out a small giggle and pecked his adorable smile, before pushing herself up. "Let's go!"

Pyrrha offered a hand for him to get up, and after stretching a bit to recover the feel of his legs, he gladly took it.

They didn't let go even after they arrived at their room.

Did their late appearance and handholding trigger a bunch of questions from their teammates?

Of course.

Did their sudden and blunt display of affection made their friends accuse them of dating in secret for a while?

Totally.

Did they - mostly Nora - demanded an explanation?

Sure.

Though they both decided it could be given after some head pats.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand we are done! Thank you sooo much for reading! I seriously had a lot of fun writing this, it was such a different experience from my other fics. So I hope you enjoyed reading just as much!
> 
> And if you did, please leave kudos and a comment! It makes my day to read your thoughts about it! \o/
> 
> As always, if you want to see more from me, I have a Deviantart, Tumblr and AO3 all with the same username as here. If you want to support me, I have a Ko-fi account too.
> 
> Thank you again and see you soon!

**Author's Note:**

> A have some theories why this thing turned out so long… The first is that I wanted to write something for this AU for almost half a year, so I had a lot of time to accumulate a bunch of cute scenarios in my head and didn’t want to let any of them out.
> 
> The second is the true, simple fact that writing without being restricted to just one character POV is too much power! You can explore freely both of their feelings??!!? wACK
> 
> I’m probably not messing with this great force again for a while tho, and I hope the narrative isn’t confusing because of it.


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